Shi Zhengping, an associate professor at Taiwan Normal University, was sentenced to four years in prison for espionage by a court in mainland China. The Taiwan government has strongly condemned the sentence, saying it severely damaged cross-strait relations.
Retired NTU associate professor Shi Zhengping was sentenced Tuesday by the Anhui Maanshan Intermediate Court in the first instance to four years in prison for espionage, confiscation of property worth 20,000 yuan and two years of deprivation of political rights, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, confirmed at a regular press conference on Wednesday (Nov. 25).
Shi Zhengping, who disappeared in mainland China in August 2018, was pushed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to “confess” on China Central Television (CCTV) on Oct. 30 this year, admitting that he was instructed by Taiwan’s National Security Agency (NSA) to gather intelligence in mainland China.
CCTV reported that Shi Zhengping had introduced a number of mainland officials to Taiwan intelligence officers “under the banner of cross-strait academic exchanges.
The Shi Zhengping case is one of several recent high-profile Taiwan spy cases made in China. Several others include Li Mengju, Zheng Yuqin, and Tsai Jinshu.
Li Mengju, a political advisor in Pingtung County, Taiwan, was secretly arrested by mainland police on August 20, 2019, for filming mainland armed police training in a gymnasium during a trip to China. On October 11 of this year, Li Mengju was put on Chinese CCTV to “confess” and “repent” of his crimes.
Zheng Yuqin is a Taiwanese scholar living in Europe. He was also hauled up for a “public trial” the day after Lee’s appearance on CCTV. The CCTV said that Zheng Yuqin has a long history of “turning people against the mainland” in the Czech Republic and other European countries and sowing discord between Beijing and other countries.
The company’s main business is the development of a new business model that will be used in the future. More than a year later, the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced the espionage charges against Cai Jinshu. In July of this year, Cai was sentenced to four years in prison for espionage.
Observers have pointed out that the upsurge in China’s crackdown on Taiwanese spies is closely related to the deterioration of cross-strait relations. As China’s international image has become increasingly negative, Taiwan’s international popularity has increased and its international relations environment has improved markedly. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has found it difficult to tolerate this change and has increased its military harassment of Taiwan while also pressuring Taiwan through this spate of “espionage cases.
The Taiwan government’s Land Commission, which is responsible for mainland affairs, issued a statement earlier on the Shi Zhengping case, condemning the mainland side’s deliberate attempts to stigmatize normal academic exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and to intimidate the people of Taiwan. It called the incident a “malicious political speculation that seriously undermines cross-strait relations.
The Taiwan陆委 pointed out that in recent years, under the pretext of safeguarding national security, Beijing has not only arbitrarily arrested domestic and Hong Kong dissidents and strengthened its internal control, but also maliciously extended to acts of espionage abroad, and even arbitrarily arrested specific individuals from Taiwan who engaged in cross-Strait exchanges.
The Land Commission has criticized Beijing for easily arresting Taiwanese people engaged in cross-strait academic exchanges on charges of espionage and for fabricating false and incriminating scenarios. The Shi Zhengping case is a continuation of the intimidation and political manipulation of the people of Taiwan.
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