Mike Baker

In one case, a Facebook post advertised payments of about $125 for interviews with people who had military backgrounds.

So, from Beijing's perspective, Taiwanese officials say the math is straightforward.

The deputy head of Taiwan's Investigation Bureau described paying soldiers modest sums for cooperation as, quote, good value for money.

But the scale of the problem continues to grow.

Taiwan's National Security Bureau says prosecutors charged 64 people in 15 espionage cases in 2024.

That was up from just three cases in 2021.

And in the first nine months of 2025, another two dozen were charged, with nearly two-thirds of those accused coming from the military.

It's a bit of an epidemic, which is different than a pandemic, like the one that sprung from the Wuhan lab in China.

The epidemic of espionage originating in China won't spread as fast as COVID, but for the Taiwanese, it could be just as deadly.

Lai's case illustrates why officials are alarmed.

His activities went undetected for a couple of years.

Beginning in April of 2022, Lai began sending photographs of documents to Chinese handlers in exchange for crypto.

When he was rotated out of the presidential detail, prosecutors say he recruited other troops to keep the pipeline open at the instruction of his Chinese intel handlers.

Over two years, the group provided China with guard rosters, call signs, headshots of officials, internal training manuals, and security procedures, materials that could be assembled into an operational picture for military planning purposes.

Now, Lai's operation came to a halt in August of 2024 when a fellow soldier alerted authorities.

Lai and three others were arrested and convicted by March.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison and is estimated to have received $15,000 from Beijing for his role.

Now, you wouldn't think that you could put a price on betraying your country.

The fact that Lai provided invaluable information to Chinese intel over a two-year period for the princely sum of $15,000 is, for Xi Jinping's China, an impressive return on investment.

And as the Taiwanese authorities are learning, it's just the tip of the iceberg.