TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors charged former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) and retired Navy Major General Hsia Fu-hsiang (夏復翔) under the National Security Act on Thursday (March 16) for providing free trips to China for 48 former military officers.

The people recruited by Lo and Hsia were mostly retired lieutenant generals and major generals from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and even included one officer who had served in the Presidential Office Building, the Liberty Times reported.

However, because there was no evidence that the retired officers had actually collected confidential information on behalf of China, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office on Thursday only listed them as witnesses, while they indicted Lo and Hsia.

The duo organized 13 free trips to China from 2013 to 2018, with Chinese officials promoting government propaganda at dinners and events during their stay. Both men denied they had been trying to form spy rings on behalf of Beijing, though they acknowledged they had helped retired officers travel to China.