"Academic Spy" refers to cross-strait exchanges: use the manuscript as a cover to steal information
[Global Times reporter Fan Lingzhi] Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities and its spy agencies have carried out large-scale intelligence gathering activities against the mainland, and the cross-strait exchanges have not escaped the fate of being tainted.
The "Global Times" reporter learned that the national security agency recently cracked the Taiwan espionage case of Cai Jinshu and Shi Zhengping. These two people used the banner of cross-strait academic exchanges to obtain internal documents and materials from the mainland, and became a tool for Taiwan's intelligence agencies to collect mainland intelligence.
Disguised as a "pro-mainland scholar"
In July 2018, the national security agency cracked the Taiwanese spy case of Tsai Jinshu.
Cai Jinshu, born in 1959, was previously the chairman of the "South Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations Association" and chairman of the "Eagle Media" Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd., and has been engaged in cross-strait exchanges since the 1990s.
In 2013, a person named Guo Jiaying on Fuxing Radio contacted Cai Jinshu, claiming to be his school sister. According to Cai’s confession, Guo Jiaying treated him very well, “Occasionally ask me for coffee and sometimes give me some health care products. If there are more important meetings in the mainland, I will call to ask me who I met? Or what information? What policy does the mainland have?"
According to the national security agency, Guo Jiaying is an internal spy under Taiwan’s "Military Intelligence Bureau". A few years ago, Cai Jinshu was identified at a cross-strait academic exchange meeting.
When she learned that Cai’s “Southern Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations Association” was difficult to operate due to lack of money, she took the initiative to find a good venue for the association and paid NT$360,000 in rent.
After Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, cross-strait exchanges have become colder, and few mainland scholars have visited Taiwan.
Guo Jiaying and Cai Jinshu discussed the establishment of an electronic media called "Eagle Media", which uses the "dark blue and reddish" "pro-mainland" features to request articles from mainland scholars and journalists to collect information.
Cai Jinshu gradually lost the dominance of the platform. The police officer of the National Security Bureau of Xiamen City, Fujian Province said that Guo Jiaying kept instilling a thought in him: "Just give me what you hear, see, and get. These are all public. , No secrets, no red-headed documents, relevant departments will not follow up."
However, it is not so simple.
The reporter was informed that every time Cai Jinshu had contact with mainlanders, Cai Jinshu had another important task: to privately extract information from mainland China.
According to his confession, Guo Jiaying continued to assign him tasks: "I hope I will contact senior leaders in cross-strait decision-making, or the personnel changes of senior leaders." Cai Jinshu will deliberately emphasize his support for cross-strait reunification when contacting mainlanders. Eliminate suspicion, actively participate in platform activities and submit articles, "If the other party is willing, I will give Guo Jiaying's WeChat to him, and Guo Jiaying will ask him for the article."
According to the investigation by the national security agency, after these manuscripts are sent to Guo Jiaying, she will sort them out and submit them to Taiwan’s “Military Intelligence Bureau” before they will be posted on the Eagle Media website after they are “digested” by the “Military Intelligence Bureau”.
In the past few years, Cai Jinshu introduced to Guo Jiaying more than 50 people from mainland Taiwan-related work departments, important think tank experts, and well-known media reporters. He successively collected more than NT$5 million from spy agencies.
In July 2020, Cai Jinshu was sentenced to 4 years in prison for espionage.
He regretted this: "I have been in the mainland for more than 20 years. I followed my predecessors to engage in cross-strait exchanges, but was used by the Taiwan Military Intelligence Bureau to do acts that endanger the national security of the mainland. A place to regret."
Approaching mainland think tanks as a scholar
Similar to Cai Jinshu, Shi Zhengping, a retired professor at Taiwan Normal University, was reviewed by the national security agency in accordance with the law in August 2018.
Shi Zhengping, born in 1960, studied in the United States in his early years and worked in the Taipei Representative Office in the United States. In 2005, he was recommended by his teacher as the leader of the "Cross-Strait Agricultural Policy Research Group" of the Eurasian Foundation, a cover agency of the National Security Bureau. The "National Security Bureau" spy Zhou Shengyu (pseudonym Zhou Deyi) established contact.
Zhou Shengyu asked Shi to report to him when he went to the mainland and help him collect some information, and he could only report to him.
In 2010, when Shi Zhengping participated in the academic activities of a certain mainland science and technology research institute, he took all the documents and materials of the activities in the hotel to the Taiwan intelligence department.
From then on, every time Shi received information that Zhou Shengyu thought was important on the mainland, Zhou couldn't wait to meet up.
The "Global Times" reporter learned that Shi Zhengping has entered the mainland for more than 30 times to participate in cross-strait seminars organized by relevant mainland units, filming event materials and personnel lists, and recording important speeches by participants.
On the other hand, Zhou Shengyu pays fees based on the importance of these materials, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
In addition to collecting information on his own, Shi Zhengping also gave Zhou Shengyu the cover of the secretary of the "Regional Economic and Human Resources Development Association" in order to receive senior mainland think tanks, and even introduced Zhou to the Taiwan office of a mainland ministry and commission for meetings and exchanges.
Tainted the atmosphere of cross-strait academic exchanges
Both Cai Jinshu and Shi Zhengping are scholars who frequently travel between the two sides of the strait. They are used by the DPP authorities and Taiwan's intelligence agencies and reduced to intelligence gathering tools.
The national security agency stated that the methods used by these people to gather intelligence are very good.
In order to avoid alerting mainland personnel, they do not collect secret-related materials such as red-headed documents, but use methods such as "questioning with mouth, seeing with eyes, and using notes" to interrogate and spy on mainland relevant inside information.
Some seem to be public, and some are fragmented, but after "puzzle collection" and analysis by professional departments, they become "significant strategic intelligence", often including information on the future trend of the mainland's Taiwan policy; Taiwan Intelligence If the agency grasps it in advance, it will affect the mainland's Taiwan policy, and the harm is no less than allowing the other party to obtain confidential redhead documents.
In an interview, Li Peng, dean of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, believes that the atmosphere for cross-strait academic exchanges should be pure, healthy and safe. "The above-mentioned actions of the DPP authorities undermined the rules of cross-strait academic exchanges and tarnished the academic exchange atmosphere. This has also affected the normal development of cross-strait academic exchanges. We hope that the Tsai Ing-wen authorities can stop these irresponsible actions and restore a pure land of cross-strait academic exchanges."