Diabolo champion’s 10.5-year espionage sentence upheldBy Yang Hsin-hui and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe High Court today upheld a 10-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a former diabolo champion who developed a Chinese-funded espionage organization in Taiwan with active-duty and retired military personnel. Lu was indicted in November 2023 and was sentenced in a retrial at the Taipei District Court in June last year for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). Republic of China Diabolo Federation board member Lu Chi-hsien, right, appears at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on July 21, 2023. Chinese national Tian Xi (田曦), who used underground remittances to send funds to Lu, also had his sentence reduced today, from eight years, to seven years and two months. In the first trial, the Taipei District Court sent the case to the High Court as it involved state secrets.

Source: Taipei Times March 10, 2026 16:03 UTC