$15 Million for a Chinook Defection Embarrases Defense Minister

A Taiwanese Chinook pilot's court case has lifted the cover on Chinese espionage, illustrating how a Lt. Col. was courted into flying his CH-47 Chinook onto a waiting PRC aircraft carrier.

The price for the scheme, about $6,355 per month, initially failed to entice Lt. Col. Hsieh, until the Chinese agents upped the ante to a cool $15 million USD. They promised that the PRC would help evacuate his family to Thailand in the event of an inter-Chinese conflict, too. In return, Hsieh was to fly his Chinook along the coastline to a PRC aircraft carrier on drill about 24 nm offshore. Hsieh's input actually pushed the PLA's drills towards the South, near the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, so he would have an easier time evading the expected air force response.

The case broke due to an unidentified "tip-off", with Hsieh and a retired army officer arrested. The case mentioned makes note of teleconferencing taking place between Hsieh and the enticing agents, bringing up the possibility of domestic surveillance being the real key to cracking the case.

The affair was an embarrassment for Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-Cheng, who was grilled over the incident in a recent testimony. “I feel pained too, to have discovered a case like this and those allegedly involved must be dealt with according to the law."

The matter appears to have been quite neatly wrapped up by the justice system, but it serves as yet another warning that PRC personnel are on the prowl for defectors with juicy information or desirable equipment.

FMI: www.scmp.com