Defector backs claim of large Chinese spy network

ASSOCIATED PRESS by way of Jerusalem Post ^ | 08JUN05 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[familyop]

CANBERRA, Australia

A second Chinese defector has backed a Chinese diplomat's claim that China is running a large spy network in Australia and other Western countries.

The diplomat, Chen Yonglin, 37, walked away from his post as first secretary at the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney last month to seek political asylum in Australia.

Chen claimed China ran a ring of 1,000 spies in Australia involved in illegal activities including abducting Chinese nationals and smuggling them back to China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed Chen's claims as slander.

But a second Chinese official seeking asylum in Australia, Hao Feng Jun, 32, backed Chen's claim of a Chinese spy network in Australia in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. television late Tuesday.

Hao said he was a member of China's internal security police engaged in the suppression of dissidents before be came to Australia in February as a tourist and sought asylum.

"I worked in the police office in the security bureau and I believe what Mr. Chen says is true," Hao told the ABC through an interpreter.

"As far as I know, they have spies in the consulate but they also have a network of spies they've sent out," he said.

"They send businessmen and students out to overseas countries as spies. They also infiltrate the Falun Gong and other dissident groups," he added.

The government has yet to rule on the asylum applications of either Chen or Hao, which complicate bilateral relations as Australia and China negotiate a free trade agreement.

[familyop]

"They send businessmen and students out to overseas countries as spies. They also infiltrate the Falun Gong and other dissident groups," he added.

[Gunslingr3]

Yeah, they're spying on the Math Departments at universities across the country.

[NorthernTraveler]

Why do you think the U.S.'s math scores have been going down for years?

Do you think the Chinese in all the math departments really WANT us to learn math? ;-)

/sarcasm

[Ron in Acreage]

Just look at Clintons White House sleepover list and donors list.

[HereInTheHeartland]

They are sending many here; doctors, engineers and others. Time will tell if they are benign

[familyop]

Yes. Most of the students in the hard sciences (math, computer science, physics,...) go back after they get what China really wants--the building blocks of technology. Some of them are most likely building Chinese defense (offense). I had an English comp. instructor who bragged that she was a PLA captain and had the word red (in Chinese) in her name.

And our country's answer to the problem is to try to drag and bribe more hardly willing women into programs in the sciences.

[snarks_when_bored]

Autocratic governments never seem to understand why it is that they have to send their citizens out around the world to steal scientific and technological secrets from free countries.

Or perhaps they do, and don't care. After all, spying has "all of the advantages of theft over honest toil."

[elmer fudd]

"Yeah, they're spying on the Math Departments at universities across the country."

Actually that's true. The Chinese government asks it's overseas students to note anything that could be of value to the government and then interviews them again when they return. It's a very low key form of espionage.

[snowsislander]

Yes, it appears that China is even more successful at spying than the Soviet Union in its heyday during the 1940s.