Major General Liu Guangzhi, commandant of China's Air...

Major General Liu Guangzhi, commandant of China's Air Force Command Academy, and another academy officer were sentenced to death on charges of spying for rival Taiwan. Heavy punishments were also handed down to at least 20 other military officers implicated in the case.
Since Liu was also a deputy of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, Central Military Commission chairman and former president Jiang Zemin had ordered severe punishment for those in what he described as "the worst spy case since the founding of the People's Republic of China" in 1949.
Taiwan and China remain technically at war since the two sides split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, although civil contacts resumed in 1987. Beijing regards the island as a renegade province to be reunited by force if necessary.
The spy ring was reportedly busted in March 2004 following the seizure of Taiwan Military Intelligence Bureau Colonel Li Yun-pu, his nephew Kao Kuo-ning, colleague Wu Tse-ming and many others on the mainland. Operating in the guise of a business executive with a technology firm, Li had infiltrated Chinese military units and recruited a number of officers, reports added.
It was the largest Taiwanese spy ring uncovered by China since a similar one was broken in 1998, leading to the execution the following year of high-ranking military officers Liu Liankun and Shao Zhengzhong for espionage.