Are spies who pass on sensitive information to avert war with enemy nations history-worthy heroes or criminals? The Traitor is based on the true story of espionage activities in the Taiwan Strait during the 1990s. The exciting plot is the Chinese equivalent of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold!

In the late 1980s, Cold War tensions gradually eased, and contact between Taiwan and China opened up for the first time. Cross-strait commercial trade subsequently created new possibilities for spying.

In the spring of 1999, Taiwanese intelligence agent Huang Min-Tsung enters China alone as a Taiwanese businessman, his goal to steal Chinese military secrets as part of Operation Black Tortoise. During the mission, he plans to meet with People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Major General Feng Tong, codename Black Tortoise II, who has cooperated with him for many years in hopes of bringing democracy to China. When Huang attempts to make contact, however, he doesn’t receive their established countersign. Feeling that something is very wrong, he makes a swift decision to pull out, only to be forcibly escorted from his flight by black-clad operatives. In the hands of Chinese intelligence agents, Huang is strong-armed into revealing intelligence assets that extend into the top levels of the PLA.

Operation Black Tortoise, which had been in operation for nearly ten years and recruited two senior PLA generals, is suddenly blown wide open. The news rocks Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau and National Security Bureau. Because the operation relied on assets and local contacts in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, others are inevitably dragged into the affair, including Hong Kong intelligence officer Kwong Kai-Cheung, former Hong Kong adult film star turned tech products importer Diana, and Diana’s personal assistant Lai Yuet-Yee. The relationships connecting them muddy the waters of this situation involving cross-strait military leaks.

The action in The Traitor shifts between multiple locations, jumping from Taiwan, to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and back again. The reader is engaged in a highly visual narrative that feels like watching a fantastic spy movie, while subtly rendered depictions of human nature and beautifully rendered three-dimensional characters suggest the delicate relationship between individual and country. Loyalty, patriotism, politics, or the people we love – which should be the first priority?