Taiwan detains general in China spy case

TAIPEI:  A Taiwanese general has been detained accused of spying for China, the defence ministry said Wednesday as it scrambled to limit the damage from what it called the worst espionage case in 50 years.Army major general Lo Hsien-che was recruited by China while stationed in Thailand between 2002 and 2005 and arrested late last month, the ministry said in a statement.

At the time of his arrest, Lo was head of the army's telecommunications and electronic information department, according to the statement."We don't know for sure, but there's no reason to believe that he stopped spying for China after returning home from Thailand," a ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"This is definitely the worst Chinese communist espionage case in the past half century."It was not immediately clear how much harm Lo had caused Taiwan's military, but given the sensitive affairs he was in charge of, "it could be serious," he added.

The defence ministry has set up an ad hoc group to limit the possible damage, according to Lieutenant General Wang Ming-wo, acting director of the ministry's Political Warfare Bureau."He has brought shame to the military. Servicemen are supposed to be loyal to their country," Wang said.

The arrest of Lo came amid fast-warming ties between Taipei and Beijing following the 2008 election of Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang as president."Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased over the past more than two years, the Chinese communists have not stopped their infiltration into Taiwan," said Wang.

"Instead, they have been stepping up their intelligence gathering, what we call the 'smokeless war,' against us."Taiwan and China have spied on each other ever since they split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. Beijing still regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.