Taiwan’s presidential office said Monday that a rare exchange of spies withChina was a sign of improved ties between the neighbors and historic rivals.
Chu Kung-hsun and Hsu Chang-kuo, two officers from Taiwan’s Bureau of Military Intelligence, were released by China and returned to Taiwan in mid-October, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on Monday.
The two men were arrested in Vietnam near the border with China in 2006 and given life sentences, which were later reduced to 20 years, according to Taiwan’s China Times newspaper, which first reported the exchange.
A Chinese spy imprisoned in Taiwan, Li Zhihao, was given early parole as part of the exchange, Charles Chen, a spokesman for Taiwan’s presidential office, said in a statement.
Mr. Chen said the exchange was a concrete sign of the positive relations across the Taiwan Strait. President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan met with President Xi Jinping of China in Singapore on Nov. 7, the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the two sides.
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