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," China Daily reports
it learned from a well-placed source.
"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 reportedly said.
The revelations mentioned by the source include the oral
declarations by another two figures who were arrested in China on
espionage charges in 2001. One is Qin Guangguang, a permanent
resident of the US who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in July
2001 and later released for medical reasons; and the other is Wu
Jianming, a US citizen who was expelled from China in the same
year.
Dong was arrested last September shortly after he entered the
mainland and is now being held in Guangzhou, the capital of south
China's Guangdong
Province.
The US Embassy and Consulate have confirmed that Dong is an
American citizen, but have said little else about the case.
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 and now
deputy secretary-general of Taiwan's "national security bureau,"
Dong also introduced several figures who reportedly became
influential in 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
China Daily source.
For his activities, Dong allegedly received payments of US$3,000
per month from the Taiwan spy agency and US$7,000 as an expense
fund. He also accepted a house valued at US$268,000 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, anyone who
commits espionage and endangers national security will be sentenced
to no less than 10 years of imprisonment, with a maximum sentence
of life imprisonment. If the circumstances are relatively minor,
the sentence is to be not less than three years and not more than
10 years.
Dong's family has employed Chen Manping, of the Guangdong Qiyuan
Law Firm, as Dong's attorney.
There is no word yet on the exact date Dong will go to trial or
what sort of sentence he could be facing.
Under 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 on Sunday that his last meeting
with Dong was on July 25 and that they are scheduled to meet again
within the next couple of days.
Although he declined to give more details, the lawyer said that
so far the procedure has been legal. He denied there was any
pressure from outside sources although he admitted the sensitivity
of the case.
Dong, 52, a former correspondent with a Beijing-based newspaper
in Sichuan
Province, also recruited Chinese students by granting them
scholarships, using money from a US$1 million fund set up by the
Taiwan military intelligence agency, according to the
investigation.
Dong left the Chinese mainland to study in the United States in
1986 and became a US citizen in 1994.
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 expelled from the
country in 2001. They were charged with collecting classified
information about 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 spy 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 Americans have "negative
reactions" toward espionage.
"So do Chinese people," Li told China Daily by
phone.
A Sino-US international relations analyst who asked to remain
anonymous noted that espionage activities inside the territory of
the United States also harm US interests.
In addition to espionage against the mainland, the Taiwan
intelligence agencies' job also includes obtaining classified US
information. US official memoranda issued in 1998, 1999 and 2000
warned that Taiwan's intelligence agencies attempted to obtain US
technology for advanced weapons and confidential economic
information, which would pose a threat to the country.
Taiwan authorities have "a substantial intelligence presence in
the United States" and focus their spying efforts on the United
States and China, the reports said.
Dong reportedly confessed that he and some other people also
worked with Taiwanese lobbyists who paid "tens of millions" of US
dollars to US consulting firms and foundations every year to seek
support from the US for Taiwan, and sought to influence US politics
using "dollar diplomacy."
Dong also reportedly confessed that in addition to valuable
gifts, he saw some Taiwan intelligence employees sending "red
envelopes (containing cash)" to US senior officials. For example,
during Spring Festival of 2002, he reportedly saw an assistant of
Peter Wang send a US senator expensive china and a red envelope
that is said to have contained US$10,000.
Dong reportedly added that he was told that the intelligence
agency also sent cash to some influential officials in the US
government through consulting firms, although such actions are
illegal in that country.
(China Daily August 16, 2004)