‘I only followed instructions’: Sacked Taiwan official denies charges of spying for Beijing
Chang Hsien-yao warns the allegations against him would harm inroads into mending fences with the mainland
A former top Taiwanese negotiator on China policy has rejected allegations he was spying for mainland China, after he was forced to step down over suspicions of leaking secrets.
Chang Hsien-yao, ex-deputy minister at Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, resigned last week and has been put under investigation over suspicions of leaking confidential work-related information, according to the council.
Taiwan's United Daily News quoted unnamed officials at the Investigation Bureau, which is probing Chang, as saying that he is suspected of being a spy for Beijing and allegedly leaked secrets including Taiwan's bottom line in negotiations to mainland officials.
Chang has vehemently defended himself and insisted that he followed the instructions of his superiors in dealing with the mainland during his two-and-a-half-year term as deputy minister. He pledged to cooperate with the investigation to clarify the truth and clear his name.
"There are many open or private channels of negotiation or communication between the two sides. I was only one of the pawns who followed instructions," he told a press conference.
Chang said he regretted that "a few people" risk damaging the recently warming cross-strait ties by accusing him of being a spy for the mainland.
"How can the two sides continue to negotiate and communicate when I am persecuted and pinned with such a big crime? The mutual trust between the two sides would be completely gone ... and relations would freeze and regress," he warned.
