TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Chinese infiltration cases in Taiwan nearly doubled to 168 prosecutions in 2024, Judge Hsu Kai-chieh (許凱傑) told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a U.S. congressional body, Friday (Oct. 3). Hsu outlined six infiltration methods targeting Taiwan's democracy and urged international cooperation to counter Beijing's expanding espionage operations.
The infiltration methods include traditional espionage, organizational penetration, societal division tactics, technological theft, election interference, and gray zone operations. Hsu detailed how espionage typically begins with military personnel jokingly signing surrender agreements, which later becomes coercion for sensitive data provision. Each method represents a distinct threat to Taiwan's democratic institutions.
Organizational infiltration operates through hometown associations, alumni networks, and neighborhood leaders who organize China trips for recruitment purposes. Beijing simultaneously targets Taiwanese political parties to create societal divisions while deploying technological espionage through Chinese companies controlling Taiwan's tech sector or embedding spies to steal core enterprise technologies.
Gray zone operations pose escalating threats, including damaged undersea cables that compromise Taiwan's communication infrastructure. Hsu emphasized international coordination for reporting and intercepting suspicious vessels while revealing prosecution statistics: cases surged from 28 in 2022 to 86 in 2023, then nearly doubled to 168 in 2024, demonstrating Beijing's intensifying infiltration efforts.