By Hollie Younger / Staff writer, with CNA
China’s infiltration of Taiwan is systematic, planned and targeted, with recent activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said today.
The Legislative Yuan invited Tsai to deliver a report on bureau operations to its Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
China’s infiltration is systematic, in that it integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” work into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
It is also planned, with China using specific networks to screen targets through various exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said.
Third, it is targeted, with those targets shifting toward lower-ranking military personnel on the grassroots level, he added.
Before the meeting, Tsai was asked by reporters about China’s reservation of five airspace zones for 40 days from March 27 until May 6.
Beijing is using military and political aims to probe US activities, Tsai said.
The designation would remain in place until almost exactly one week before a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), he said.
The zones stretch south from the Yellow Sea, facing South Korea, to the East China Sea, facing Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Beijing has not given an official explanation or confirmed military exercises during this time, it said.
A US reconnaissance aircraft entered one of the reserved airspaces on Monday to conduct operations, indicating that China could be using the opportunity to test the US response, Tsai said.
Taiwan has also established an inter-agency notification mechanism to combat China’s “gray zone” maritime harassment and is actively exchanging Maritime Domain Awareness experience with international partners, he added.
Additional reporting by Fang Wei-li