TAIPEI, Taiwan: Fourteen people connected with China's Luxshare Precision Industry Co have been arrested in Taiwan on charges of stealing commercial secrets from a Taiwanese supplier and luring its workforce so it would qualify to win orders from Apple, Inc.

Taiwan has been increasingly aggressive in preventing Chinese firms from seeking to obtain Taiwanese commercial secrets, as well as hire away Taiwanese tech staffs, as the government seeks to ensure it maintains its tech prowess.

Officials in Taipei said, following an 18 month investigation, that China's Luxshare Precision Industry Co Ltd had illegally targeted Taiwanese competitor Catcher Technology Co Ltd "in order to quickly enter the Apple production chain to win orders," according to a statement.

The government claims that Luxshare "lured" Taiwan's Catcher China-based research and development team with high salaries and stole business secrets from the Taiwanese firm, causing significant losses, prosecutors said in a statement.

Taiwan further said Luxshare was seeking to "quickly build factories and mass produce cases for iPhones, iPads and other products," the statement said.

The 14 people have been charged with breach of trust and taking commercial secrets for use overseas, they added.

"The department will do its best to investigate such cases to maintain the sound development of our country's enterprises and ensure the competitiveness of national industries," Taiwanese prosecutors said.

Earlier, Taiwanese authorities raided ten companies or their R&D centers in Taiwan seeking evidence that they illegally hired Taiwanese chip engineers and other high tech employees.