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Taipei spy built network in USA
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-08-16 06:37
Chinese-born American David Wei Dong, who is accused of stealing State
secrets, may have "elicited a huge network of Taiwanese spying in the Eastern
United States," a well-placed source told China Daily.
Chinese-American
Dong Wei will be charged with espionage.
[newsphoto/file] | "Witnesses have revealed that a couple of people on Taiwan's intelligence
agency's payroll, including Dong, passed large amounts of intelligence to
Taiwan," the source said.
The witnesses mentioned by the source partially are based on oral
declarations by another two figures who were arrested in China on espionage
charges in 2001. One is Qin Guangguang, who was convicted to 10 years of
imprisonment in July 2001 (and was released later for medical treatment) and the
other is Wu Jianming, who was expelled from China in the same year.
Dong was arrested last September shortly after he entered the mainland, and
now is being held in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.
The US Embassy and Consulate only confirm a few basic facts, including he was
an American citizen.
The investigation that fingered Dong as being on the payroll of Taiwan's top
intelligence agency, the "national security bureau," shows that he collected
confidential information, including speeches by China's top leaders in
closed-door meetings, information about political and economic conditions; and
Beijing's policies towards Taipei and the United States.
Recruited by Taiwanese Peter Wang, then a key figure with the Taiwan's
"national security bureau," and current deputy secretary-general, Dong also
introduced several "influential figures" to the intelligence agency for their
spying acts against the mainland in addition to "lobbying activities" and
"dollar diplomacy" in US political circles, according to the source.
For his espionage, Dong allegedly received US$3,000 per month from the
Taiwanese spy agency as payment for his spying and US$7,000 to his fund for
"work." He also accepted a US$268,000-valued house from the agency.
Dong will be transferred, "in all likelihood very soon," to prosecutorial
departments for public prosecution, the source said.
According to Article 110 of China's Criminal Law, those who commit espionage
and endangers national security will be sentenced to no less than 10 years of
imprisonment or life imprisonment; and if the circumstances are relatively
minor, the sentence is to be not less than three years and not more than 10
years of imprisonment.
Dong's family has employed Chen Manping with Guangdong Qiyuan Law Firm as
Dong's counselor.
There is no word yet on the exact date Dong will go to trial or what sort of
sentence he could be facing.
According to the Chinese judicial system, formal indictment occurs when
authorities make a decision to prosecute.
"As the case involves State secrets, I think the court may not conduct a
public trial," Chen said.
Chen told China Daily yesterday that his last meeting with Dong was on July
25 and the next is scheduled "in the coming two days."
Refusing to give out more details, the lawyer said that up to now, the
procedure has been legal and he denied there was any pressure from outside
sources although he admitted the sensitivity of the case.
Dong, 52, a former Beijing-based newspaper correspondent in Sichuan Province,
also recruited Chinese students by granting them scholarships, drawing money
from a US$1 million fund set up by the Taiwan military intelligence agency,
according to the investigations.
Dong left the Chinese mainland to study in the United States in 1986 and
became a US citizen in 1994.
Evidence shows most of Dong's activities were allegedly conducted while he
lived in the United States.
The Chinese mainland has announced arrests of a number of people over the
past several years on spying charges.
Li Shaomin, a Chinese-born American and Gao Zhan, a Chinese-American scholar
were convicted and were expelled from the country in 2001. The above mentioned
Qin is the permanent resident of the United States and Wu is a US citizen. They
were all charged for collecting classified information against the mainland for
the Taiwan intelligence agencies.
It is still unclear whether the US authorities have been aware of espionage
occurring in the past several years in their territory or of the spying network
involving US citizens or permanent residents.
Li Jianhua, a senior official with Chinese Embassy in Washington said all the
countries are concerned about their own countries' security, saying that US
people hold "negative reactions" to espionage.
"So do Chinese people," Li told China Daily by phone.
An international relations analyst involved in Sino-US issues who asked to
remain anonymous warned that those espionage activities inside the territory of
the United States also harm US interests.
In fact, besides these committing espionage against the mainland, the Taiwan
intelligence agencies' job also included obtaining classified US information.
Back to 1998, 1999 and 2000, US official memorandums have warned that
Taiwan's intelligence agencies attempted to obtain US technology of advanced
weapons and economic confidential information, which would "pose a threat" to
the country.
Taiwan authorities have "a substantial intelligence presence in the United
States" and focuses its spying efforts on the United States and China, the
reports said.
In addition, enrolled by the intelligence agency, Dong confessed he and some
other people also worked with Taiwanese lobbyists who paid "tens of millions" US
dollars to US consulting firms and foundations every year to "seek support" from
the US for Taiwan, and sought to influence US politics by their
"dollar-diplomacy."
The source said Dong had confessed that besides valuable gifts, Dong also saw
some Taiwan intelligence employees sending "red envelopes (cash)" to US senior
officials.
Dong said that in the Spring Festival of 2002, he saw an assistant of Peter
Wang send a US senator "expensive china" and a "red envelope" which is claimed
to have contained US$10,000.
Dong added that he was told that the intelligence agency also sent cash to
some influential officials in the US Government through consulting firms
although the acts are illegal in the country.
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