FPI / December 17, 2023
By Richard Fisher
During the Cold War, high profile defections from the Soviet bloc to the West were a constant source of assurance of the desirability, if not the superiority of the democracies over the empire of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
For example, such assurance was affirmed by the spectacular September 1976 defection to Japan by Soviet Air Force Lieutenant Victor Belenko (who died this past Sept. 23) in his Mig-25, a then amazing Mach-3 speed capable Soviet fighter aircraft, providing a massive intelligence windfall for the democratic allies.
Now in its confrontation with democratic Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) apparently sought to engineer a high-profile military aircraft defection from Taiwan, that had it succeeded, would have given the CCP a massive propaganda victory as it seeks to convince Taiwanese that they should surrender their freedom to the dictatorship of the CCP.
This story first appeared on Dec. 11 in the CT Want webnews portal of the Want Want Zhongshi Media Group, which publishes the pro-Kuomintang China Times in Taiwan, but soon gained far greater coverage in the Taiwan media.
Later that day the story was confirmed by Taiwan Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng; Taiwan had received “warning” that a Taiwan Army pilot officer named Hsieh had considered defecting with his Boeing CH-47 heavy transport helicopter, to be received on a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carrier as it passed through the Taiwan Strait.
Hsieh had been offered $2 million to commit to the plan and would have received up to $15 million after his defection.
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