World

Improved ties! China, Taiwan in first spy swap

AFP

Taiwan said on Monday it has for the first time exchanged jailed spies with China, in another sign of closer relations between the two sides which recently held a historic summit.

The swap took place last month ahead of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s November 7 meeting with Xi Jinping — the first encounter since the rivals split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Beijing freed Chu Kung-hsun and Hsu Chang-kuo, the highest-ranking intelligence agents to be jailed in China after they were imprisoned in 2006, Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau said.