Ninety-seventh edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date:Thu, 04 Aug 2005 23:16:43 +0200)

Intelligence news

USA / China

According to the Washington Times, China has begun to step up its intelligence activities against the United States in efforts to acquire sensitive information that would make it possible for the PRC to rapidly develop high-tech weaponry.

Methods employed by Beijing to gather such sensitive technical data include both traditional espionage activities directed against American defense industry and hundred of thousands of unofficial spies (tourist visitors, students and others). According to U.S. government estimates, as many as 3,200 front companies have been established by China to illicitly acquire information on – and components of – sophisticated American technology. "I think the problem is huge, and it's something that I think we're just getting our arms around", according to Szady.

Source: China Reform Monitor / American Foreign Policy Council

India

Exploiting existing legal loopholes, India's security agencies are said to be actively spying on the political partners of the ruling Congress Party government. The South Asia Tribune reports that Indian intelligence services, using highly-sophisticated hacking methods, have succeeded in gaining access to the computer networks of political factions aligned with the ruling governmental coalition and installing spyware programs capable of monitoring and relaying critical data from target computers. Sources tell the Tribune that the Internet espionage activities are being conducted under the direct control and oversight of the office of the Prime Minister.

Source: Asia Security Monitor /American Foreign Policy Council

China / Australia

A former Chinese diplomat has revealed that the PRC has some 1,000 agents engaged in the active kidnapping of Chinese dissidents on Australian soil. While assigned to the Chinese consulate in Sydney, Chen Yonglin was tasked with monitoring the activities of dissident Chinese groups, including practitioners of Falun Gong, supporters of Tibet, Taiwanese sympathizers and Uighur separatists, who were subsequently kidnapped and repatriated to China. Chen, who recently defected from China, told his story to CNN.

Source: China Reform Monitor / American Foreign Policy Council

Australia

According to the Agence France Presse, Australia is beefing up its counter-espionage activities in an effort to track foreign spies who have infiltrated Canberra's diplomatic circuit. Government officials say that foreign spies are currently as active within Australia as they were at the height of the Cold War. Today, however, it is believed that Chinese agents far surpass Russia's clandestine presence. As part of Canberra's response, a new counter-espionage unit has been established within the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO), the government's main intelligence agency.

Source: Asia Security Monitor / American Foreign Policy Council