ChinaGate: Hong Kong Chief Secretary Lashes Out At Report On Chinese Spying

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ChinaGate: Hong Kong Chief Secretary Lashes Out At Report On Chinese Spying

http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=73487
6/15/99 AFP

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Hong Kong Chief Secretary Lashes Out At Report On Chinese Spying

WASHINGTON, Jun 15, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Hong Kong's chief secretary, Anson Chan, opened a two-day US visit Monday by lashing out at congressional allegations that China uses the territory as an illegal transshipment point for high-tech US goods.

Referring to the so-called Cox report on alleged Chinese spying here, Chan specifically took issue with charges that Chinese army vehicles pass uninspected through Hong Kong and that its personnel have unrestricted access to Hong Kong computers.

The lengthy report was produced by a legislative panel chaired by Republican Representative Christopher Cox of California and released with great fanfare in May. It alleges that Beijing has waged an aggressive 20-year campaign to steal US technology and nuclear weapons secrets.

"If Mr. Cox would care to provide the evidence of any unrestricted access to computers in Hong Kong, I can assure him we will act on it," Chan told reporters here early Monday, insisting that the Chinese military had made good on pledges to keep hands off Hong Kong.

People's Liberation Army (PLA) vehicles exiting the territory "are subject to the same checks at the border as any other vehicles," she said, adding that PLA troops and Hong Kong trade officials would inspect army trucks together if any evidence arose to the contrary.

Subjecting Hong Kong to the same strict US import controls imposed on China, particularly for American-made computers, "would deal a very, very mortal blow to Hong Kong" because its economy is increasingly dominated by services, Chan said.

Chan was to meet with Cox and leaders of both houses of congress during her visit here Monday and Tuesday. She is also tentatively scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and national security adviser Sandy Berger.

A longtime Hong Kong public servant, Chan has assumed a higher international profile since Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997, repeatedly assuring nervous foreigners that life in the territory hasn't changed under Beijing's rule.

A major part of her mission here is to urge a return to stability in US-China ties, strained over NATO's intervention in Yugoslavia as well as over the Cox report and other issues, and another year-long extension of China's favorable US tariff rates.