Beijing yesterday confirmed the arrest of two Taiwan businessmen
suspected of spying for the island in the latest cross-Straits
espionage case.
"This incident is true, and the Association for Relations Across
the Taiwan Straits has informed the families of the relevant people
about the situation," said Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan
Affairs Office of the State Council.
He made the remarks at a regular news briefing in response to
recent Taiwan media reports that two businessmen from the island
had been arrested in Hunan and Guangdong provinces.
The association is a semi-official organization set up by
Beijing to handle cross-Straits exchanges due to the absence of
official links.
Li did not give details about the arrest of the two men,
surnamed Kuo and Leung. But Taiwan and Hong Kong media have
reported in recent weeks that the two were arrested by the
mainland's State security departments for allegedly providing
military secrets to Taiwan.
According to the news reports, Kuo, 62 and Leung, 59, were from
Taoyuan County, just west of Taipei, and were detained on September
7.
They were being held separately in detention centres in Hunan's
capital city, Changsha, and in the southern city of Guangzhou, the
reports said.
The case has been referred to judicial departments, according to
the reports.
The arrests are the latest case involving Taiwan businessmen
employed by the island's military intelligence agency to collect
military secrets.
Given booming business exchanges across the Straits, more than 1
million Taiwan business people and their families live on the
mainland.
Analysts said the incident would not affect Taiwan investors,
who had pumped in more than US$43.2 billion into 70,760 projects on
the mainland by September.
(China Daily November 16, 2006)