Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s party expelled on Wednesday five members accused of spying for China, including a former aide to the self-ruled island’s national security chief.
Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for decades, but experts say the threat to Taiwan is greater given the risk of a Chinese invasion.
The Democratic Progressive Party said its Central Evaluation Committee had agreed unanimously to expel the five members to “safeguard party discipline and national security”.
“The current international situation is grim, and Taiwan is facing threats from the Chinese Communist Party,” the DPP said in a statement.
“The actions of those involved in the (spying) cases not only violated the laws of our country, but also clearly violated the discipline and core values of our party.”
Among the five accused are a former aide to National Security Council chief Joseph Wu when he was foreign minister, as well as a person who had worked for Lai when he was vice president and then president, the semi-official Central News Agency reported.
The DPP did not say if the five had been charged and no one in the Taipei District Prosecutors Office was immediately available to comment.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it. Taiwan also accuses China of using espionage, cyberattacks and disinformation to weaken its defences.
See also: Taiwan’s existential battle against Chinese spies
The number of people prosecuted for spying for Beijing has risen sharply in recent years, with retired and serving members of Taiwan’s military the main targets of Chinese infiltration efforts, official figures show.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said previously 64 people were prosecuted for Chinese espionage last year, compared with 48 in 2023 and 10 in 2022.
In 2024, they included 15 veterans and 28 active service members, with prison sentences reaching as high as 20 years.
