$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.