Taiwanese prosecutors charged seven people, including a Chinese national, on Tuesday with violating national security after they allegedly collected military secrets for China.

China claims democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to take it, while Taipei accuses Beijing of using espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.

The Chinese national surnamed Ding used business or tourism as pretexts to visit Taiwan multiple times, the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

It said Ding allegedly recruited active and retired Taiwanese service members to “collect sensitive information” on Taiwan’s military, defence and government affairs for the Chinese Communist Party.

The seven defendants have been charged with offences under the National Security Act, Classified National Security Information Protection Act, Criminal Code, and Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, prosecutors said.

An eighth person has been charged with banking and money laundering offences in connection with the case.

“These defendants betrayed their comrades-in-arms and betrayed their own nation, and should face the most severe legal sanctions,” prosecutors said of the Taiwanese accused, adding that they had asked the court to impose heavy sentences.

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Ding was arrested in Taiwan in July, an official at the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) told AFP.

A spokesman for the High Prosecutors Office said it was the first time a Chinese national had been charged with spying on Taiwanese soil since 2017.

Most Chinese infiltration in Taiwan is conducted “remote control from abroad” and uses “local collaborators”, the MJIB said.

The case was uncovered during an internal probe by Taiwan’s defence ministry and was investigated by a number of agencies.

While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, experts warn that the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said that 64 people were prosecuted for Chinese espionage last year, compared with 48 in 2023 and 10 in 2022.

Prison sentences reached as high as 20 years.

Taiwan sentenced four former members of the Democratic Progressive Party — the party of President Lai Ching-te — in September for spying for China. Among them was a former staffer in the Presidential Office.