China claimed yesterday that a Chinese-born American who is charged with spying on Beijing's diplomats for Taiwan operated a "huge network" of spies in the US.
David Dong (
Dong might have had "a huge network of Taiwanese spying in the eastern United States," the government newspaper China Daily said, citing unidentified official sources.
"Witnesses have revealed that a couple of people on Taiwan's intelligence agency's payroll,including Dong, passed a large amount of intelligence to Taiwan," a source was quoted as saying.
Dong was among a series of Chinese-born businesspeople and academics with US ties who have been arrested by China in recent years on charges of obtaining military, economic and diplomatic secrets.
The revelations of such suspicions by China could be a move by Beijing to try to drive a wedge between Taiwan and the US, analysts said.
In the most recent case, a Chinese-born American who teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Wang Fei-ling, was held for two weeks on spying charges before being allowed to return to the US late last month.
Wang's university denied that he was involved in spying, and the US complained that Chinese authorities mistreated Wang by depriving him of sleep and water.
A spokesman for the US Embassy has said consular officials had been in contact with Dong and last met him in June.
Dong, a US citizen since 1995, was arrested last September and is expected to stand trial soon, according to earlier news reports.
He is accused of working with Qin Guangguang (
Qin, a Chinese citizen with US residency, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years, while China claimed that Wu, a Chinese-born US citizen, confessed to spying, though it didn't release details of either case.
Both men were expelled to the US shortly before a 2001 visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Dong is accused of obtaining information on Chinese policy toward Taipei and Washington and speeches by Chinese leaders to confidential meetings, according to state media.
He would be transferred for public prosecution "in all likelihood very soon", the China Daily said.
The newspaper quoted Dong's lawyer, Chen Manping, as saying that because it involves state secrets, the case might be heard in a closed courtroom.
Under Chinese law, a spying conviction can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Chinese state media say Dong received US$3,000 per month and a US$268,000 house from Taiwan's National Security Agency.
Dong was born in Chongqing in 1952, worked as a reporter for state media and in 1986 went to the US as a student, according to earlier Chinese news reports.
The China Daily claimed that Dong also helped Taiwan recruit Chinese students in the US as spies, drawing on a US$1 million fund set up by the Taiwanese government.
Last December, China announced it had detained 24 Taiwanese and 19 mainlanders for espionage, and that all of them had confessed. A Taiwanese man, Song Xiao-lian (
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