Mike Baker

He was in debt, and he went online looking for a loan.

Instead of a lender, prosecutors say he found a Chinese intelligence operative offering quick cash.

In exchange, all Lai had to do was to photograph sensitive security details.

Oh, is that all?

Now, on their own, the images are just fragments, but collected over time, they begin to form a much larger operational picture.

And authorities say that Lai wasn't acting alone.

The Chinese regime's intel services are persistent, they're pervasive, and they're patient.

Notice how I used words that all begin with the letter P. The PDB is very big on alliteration.

Anyway, prosecutors describe him as part of a broader, ongoing Chinese espionage network that works to penetrate Taiwan's military and political institutions, funneling intelligence back to Beijing.

And of course, Beijing isn't just collecting information for curiosity's sake.

As China continues to threaten the use of force to seize the self-governed island that it claims is its own,

Authorities fear agents already embedded inside Taiwan could play a decisive role in any future military operation.

Since March, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-de launched a campaign aimed at rooting out Chinese espionage and political influence.

What that campaign has exposed so far is a pattern that Taiwan finds particularly unsettling.

Many of those charged with national security violations are not civilians, but active duty service members or veterans.

For example, in October, a retired Taiwanese lieutenant general was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for accepting Chinese funds to help establish an armed organization inside Taiwan, one designed to specifically target military bases.

But investigators say Beijing's recruitment efforts are increasingly focused lower down the chain of command.

Junior personnel, as it turns out, are cheaper to compromise and often under financial pressure.

So, you ask yourself, how does the recruitment work?

Well, in the case of Sergeant Lai, Chinese regime operatives posed online as lenders or media producers, offering small payments delivered through messaging apps or cryptocurrency.