At present: Communist spies are still around Taiwan

“Communist spies are around you” — this slogan which used to represent Taiwan's dominant ideology during decades of struggle against the enemies from across the Taiwan Strait somehow still holds some truth in the present day.

At the very least, spies from China are still operating in Taiwan, as the latest arrest of an army general on spying charges has shown. We simply do not know whether there are more or fewer spies now than in the past.

Of course, Taiwanese spies also infiltrate China's institutions. The best illustration is the execution of a People's Liberation Army (PLA) general for spying for Taiwan in the 1990s.

The PLA general provided Taiwan with key information concerning China's missile deployment. He is believed to be the one who tipped Taiwan off about China's missile threat in 1996.

Information from the general reportedly revealed that China only fired dummy missiles into the waters near Taiwan in order to scare voters from re-electing Lee Teng-hui to the presidency.

The missile threat marked one of the biggest Taiwan-China crises since the island lifted martial law in 1987, and it pushed the United States into dispatching a carrier battle group to the Taiwan Strait.

Enemies do spy on each other; and so do friends.

About three decades ago, an officer working in a Taiwan weapons development program defected to the United States and revealed the island's development of nuclear weapons.

It has been said that the officer was not just a defector blowing the whistle, but was actually a U.S.-trained spy.

We may have to accept the fact that spying is the “norm” rather than “exception” in the world of politics. We must not be so naive as to believe that China would stop spying on Taiwan because of the recent improvements in cross-strait ties.

Still, this week's arrest of the army general, Lo Hsien-che, is alarming. His rank, his motives, the length of his operation, and the information he may have given to China — all these have various implications and ramifications.

Lo, head of the army's communication and electronic information department, reportedly had access to sensitive materials, including deployment of the military's fiber-optics network around the island.

His alleged betrayal since 2004 reportedly has also compromised U.S.-Taiwan collaboration on the running of an electronic information system.

The military has declined to reveal what kind of breach Lo allegedly made, but claimed that he had been in charge of non-sensitive work.

We may never know what damage the alleged espionage may have done. The military will never reveal this information, but it will still have to control the damage.

Furthermore, the military needs to tighten control to purge itself of moles and prevent a repeat of the Lo scandal. This is much easier said than done.

Lo's case is unlikely to be an isolated one or the last one. Last year, another military officer was arrested for allegedly spying for China.

It is not known how pervasive Chinese spies are in the military. And their motives are worrisome. In Lo's case, it seems that money played an important part.

Morale in the military is low, and discipline slackening. With its archrival seemingly becoming more of a friend than foe, and its strength much eclipsed by that of the enemy's, Taiwan's armed forces seem to have lost their motivation.

Ideology has given way to materialism. Loyalty collapses in the face of money.

The military is supposed to defend the country, but this country has a vague identity. Patriotism now perhaps only shows once in a while during sport events in support of Taiwan's — or officially Chinese Taipei's — teams.

But if war breaks out across the Taiwan Strait, can patriotism be invoked to defend the island? We can only hope that we will never have to witness how that scenario may play out.

TEAMWORK