Mr. Zhang Xianyao, Taiwan's deputy director of Mainland Affairs Office, resigned from his post a couple days ago for "personal" reason, and later he claimed that he was unfairly retreated and was forced to leave the office.  The office then accused him of divulging Taiwan's bottom line to Mainland during cross-strait talk, and insinunated that he might be a Mainland's spy.  That's a ludicrous idea.  I don't believe Mr. Zhang is a spy, for as long as Taiwan doesn't step on the red line of violating "One China" principle, what kind of valuable "national" secret Taiwan can sell to Mainland?  So the whole story may be a farce, a sheer political infighting. 

Now a TV talk show talks.  From civil war between Nationalists and communists in late 40's to the high-tech war between the strait, the show misled the audience that delicate operation of espionage always plays a pivotal role to success for communists and Mainland nowadays.  But it didn't explain to audience why there were so many Nationalists elites worked as Commuinist spies during the civil war, and why Mainland is now able to catch up with Taiwan in high-tech field so quick  through reverse engineering, imitating, poaching, and "stealing".  Let me tell you why.  Undeniably, Nationalists had lost the support from vast grass roots of then China and thus were expelled to Taiwan, not just they didn't have better espionage.  What about now?  The wealthy and aggressive Mainland China is willing and able to "steal" any high-tech from anywhere, not just those of semi-conductors' and petrochemicals' from Taiwan. 

Business is often likened to war.  And you know, a proverb tells us that "All's fair in love and war."  So espionage is just one of the means to serve that purpose.