Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Chinese-American on Trial for China Espionage

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 14:11:56 -0400

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20040728_69.html

Chinese-American on Trial for China Espionage
July 28, 2004  By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese-American businessman will go on trial in
China
soon, accused of spying on China for arch-rival Taiwan while in the
United
States, Chinese state media said Wednesday.

David Dong, 52, also known as Dong Wei, is the latest in a string of
U.S.
citizens and permanent residents arrested in China on charges of spying
for
the self-ruled, democratic island which Beijing has claimed since the
end of
a civil war in 1949.

"How big exactly the scope of Taiwan's spy network in the United States
is
has become an alarming question," said the Global Times, a subsidiary of
the
People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's Communist Party.

It was unclear if Dong's arraignment would strain China-U.S. ties, but
the
spy scandal -- splashed on the front pages of the Global Times tabloid
and
the official China Daily -- appeared aimed at embarrassing Taiwan.

The former Chinese reporter was arrested last September shortly after
entering China on a business trip and was being held in the southern
city of
Guangzhou, the China Daily said.

Dong, who became an American citizen in 1995, was recruited by Taiwan
military intelligence official Peter Wang in 1990 and received a monthly
salary of $3,000 for stealing state secrets, the newspapers said.

The Global Times said Dong's work not only undermined China's national
security, but also broke a Taiwan pledge in 1984 not to carry out
espionage
activities in the United States.

Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other since their split in
1949.
Beijing considers the island a wayward province that must be returned to
the
fold, by force if necessary.

Tension has been simmering since the re-election of Taiwan President
Chen
Shui-bian in March. China is convinced he will push for formal
independence
during his second four-year term and China's 2.5 million-strong People's
Liberation Army is readying for a possible showdown.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said consular officials had
been
in contact with Dong and last met him in June.

SERVE TIME

Dong's case was different from that of Chinese-born U.S. citizens and
permanent residents who were expelled after China convicted them of
spying
for Taiwan, the newspaper said.

"It is very likely that he will serve time on the mainland," the
Chinese-language paper said of Dong.

Taiwan gave Dong a house in New York valued at $268,000 and a monthly
expense account of $7,000, the papers said.

He stole state secrets, including private speeches by China's top
leaders,
information about political and economic conditions and Beijing's
policies
toward Taiwan and the United States, the Times said.

Dong had also helped Taiwan lobby U.S. politicians and confessed to
showering U.S. government officials with gifts, including paintings,
porcelain and expensive orchids, the Times said.

The newspaper said he had also recruited Chinese students by granting
them
scholarships, drawing money from a $1 million fund set up by Taiwan
intelligence. Dong left China to study in the United States in 1986.

China has accused several Chinese-born academics who are either U.S.
citizens or permanent residents of spying for Taiwan in recent years.

In May, a Chinese court handed Boston-based scholar Yang Jianli a
five-year
prison sentence for entering China illegally and spying for Taiwan, a
conviction that has been condemned by the U.S. Congress and
international
human rights groups.

Last December, China announced it had detained 24 Taiwanese and 19
mainlanders for espionage, and that all had confessed.

Copyright 2004 Reuters News Service.
All rights reserved.

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/61FxlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/