TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) and retired Navy Major General Hsia Fu-hsiang (夏復翔) will have to spend the Lunar New Year in jail after a court decided Thursday (Jan. 19) to quash a bail decision at the request of prosecutors investigating their alleged involvement in a Chinese spy ring.
The two denied accusations they had tried to recruit retired military officers to pass on information to China, with the Kaohsiung District Court setting bail. Prosecutors filed an appeal, saying Lo and Hsia could collude and tamper with evidence if they were left free.
Following more than two hours of discussions Thursday, the same court ruled in favor of the prosecutors, ordering Lo and Hsia to be detained without access to visitors, newspapers, and television, the Liberty Times reported.
Lo was a former lawmaker for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) who later served as chairman of the subsidiary of a Taiwanese company in the Chinese city of Xiamen and more recently ran a property development company. During his military career, Hsia commanded several Navy ships and served in a major function at Navy headquarters.
While traveling between Taiwan and China for business, Lo was reportedly asked by Chinese officials to recruit potential targets to supply military information. He invited Hsia to visit China, where they met intelligence officials and promised them to build up a spy ring, prosecutors said.
The retired Navy officer used his connections in the military and in the Kuomintang (KMT) to find other officers to visit China and criticize the government in Taiwan in public after their return home.
The Kaohsiung District Court initially ruled that because the alleged facts happened between 2013 and 2019, and all related evidence had been found, it was sufficient to bar Lo and Hsia from leaving the country, and not necessary to keep them detained. However, prosecutors disagreed, leading the Taiwan High Court to order the lower court to reconsider its bail decision.
On Thursday morning, the court concluded Lo and Hsia should not be freed, as they posed a serious flight risk. They both had relatives living overseas as well as numerous international connections, and had been frequent travelers, the court said.