TAIPEI, Taiwan—Local prosecutors have indicted three Taiwanese people, including an active-duty soldier, for allegedly passing on military secrets to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intelligence service.

The Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on March 4 announced that the indictments of three defendants surnamed Pan, Huang, and Fang, according to the local Central News Agency (CNA).

Huang has been a soldier in the Air Force’s communication unit since July 2023, while Fang served as a deputy commander in an Army tank company from April 2023 to April 2025, according to the CNA.

According to prosecutors, Pan worked on behalf of a Chinese intelligence organization called “Wolunghui” and targeted Huang and Fang because they were in debt, the media outlet reported.

The case came to light when the Political Warfare Bureau of the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense discovered suspicious online activity linked to a Douyin account that shared content promoting the unification of Taiwan with China’s communist regime, according to the CNA. Investigators traced a phone number linked to the account back to Pan, prompting the Criminal Investigation Bureau to form a task force to launch a coordinated investigation with prosecutors in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung.

The indictment highlights tensions between Taiwan and the Chinese regime. The CCP considers Taiwan a part of its territory and wants it united with the mainland, through force if necessary. In January, the Taiwanese National Security Bureau warned that Beijing has been leveraging “government-civilian partnership” in its cognitive warfare against Taiwan, aiming to “manipulate Taiwan’s public opinion and shape an atmosphere conducive to the objective of ‘unifying with Taiwan.’”

On Nov. 18, 2025, authorities from multiple agencies, including the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Military Police Command, and Kaohsiung’s police, searched eight locations simultaneously and brought in eight suspects for questioning. Among them were Pan, Huang, and Fang, according to the CNA.

Prosecutors alleged that Pan had been acting under the instructions of a Wolunghui member identified as “Kevin” since September 2021. He allegedly passed military-related documents to the organization’s leaders and negotiated with loan sharks on behalf of soldiers he had recruited.

Fang allegedly joined the organization after failing to repay a loan of about NT$330,000 (about US$10,300) to underground lenders, according to the CNA. Prosecutors said he filmed a video of himself pledging surrender to China, passed along military information in exchange for bribes, and attempted to recruit fellow soldiers, although he was unsuccessful.

Huang also allegedly filmed a video of himself pledging surrender to the Chinese regime and passed on military secrets to China on multiple occasions, according to prosecutors.

The three defendants were accused of violating the Taiwanese National Security Act, the Anti-Corruption Act, the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, and the Classified National Security Information Protection Act, according to the CNA.

The Chinese regime is stepping up efforts to infiltrate Taiwan. In November 2025, the Taiwanese Mainland Affairs Council reported that 168 people were charged in 2024 with Chinese infiltration operations in Taiwan, compared with 86 in 2023 and 28 in 2022.

In January, two Taiwanese men, including a former government official, were indicted for endangering national security for their alleged roles in setting up a spy ring for the CCP.