China Builds a Database of Taiwanese Citizens to Help It Recruit Spies

Zhou Hongxu (C), a Chinese student who was studying in Taiwan, was arrested there in March 2017 and sentenced to 14 months for attempting to recruit spies for China. Expert says that the Chinese regime has a comprehensive database of Taiwanese citizens that can help it identify targets to spy on or to recruit as agents against Taiwan. SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese regime is building a comprehensive database of Taiwanese citizens that can help it identify targets to spy on or to recruit as agents against Taiwan, according to an expert.

Peter Mattis, a China Program fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, said during a conference on Oct. 11 at the Jamestown Foundation that Taiwan has always been the prime target for the Chinese regime’s hostile intelligence activities, because “China makes no secret about the eventual goal of reunification [with Taiwan].”