Former Air Force Colonel Chang Ming-che Sentenced to 11 Years for Espionage, Impeached by Control Yuan

(Central News Agency, Taipei, 10th, reporter Kao Hua-chien) The Control Yuan announced today that Chang Ming-che, a former colonel and section chief at the Air Force Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, was tempted by monetary gain and agreed to join an organization developed by personnel dispatched from mainland China and hostile foreign forces. He has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, which is now final, for severely damaging official and military discipline. The Control Yuan has therefore passed an impeachment motion against him.

Chang was allegedly recruited by a Taiwanese businessman to become a spy. The Taichung High Court had sentenced him to 16 years in prison for violating the National Security Act. However, in January of this year, the Supreme Court upheld an 11-year sentence for the charge of developing organizations for foreign forces, while overturning and remanding the charge of spying on and collecting military secrets for further review.

In a press release today, the Control Yuan stated that Chang, a former high-ranking military officer, was fully aware that the People's Republic of China has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with military force and that the possibility of military conflict across the strait cannot be ruled out. Despite this, he was tempted by monetary gain and conspired with a spy surnamed Zhong to join an organization developed by personnel dispatched from mainland China and hostile foreign forces with the intent to harm national security. From September 2019 to November 2024, he repeatedly received a total of NT$1,341,000 in operational funds from the spy surnamed Zhong.

The Control Yuan stated that Chang's actions damaged military discipline, tarnished official integrity, severely harmed the image of the national army in defending the country, and affected the public's trust in national defense, constituting a major dereliction of duty. Therefore, on the 2nd, the Control Yuan reviewed and passed an impeachment motion proposed by Control Yuan members Tsai Tsung-yi, Lai Ding-ming, and Chen Jing-jun, and the entire case has been referred to the Disciplinary Court for trial.

In addition, the Control Yuan also impeached two other individuals on the same day: Fu Min-hsiung, the former mayor of Zhutian Township in Pingtung County, for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for personnel appointments in the cleaning team; and Ku Sheng-min, the mayor of Huatan Township in Changhua County, for allegedly abusing disciplinary powers to illegally dismiss subordinates, constituting workplace bullying, and for allegedly using cleaning team administrative resources to assist in clearing bamboo and trees and removing waste on specific private land. Both were referred to the Disciplinary Court after being impeached.