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KMT legislator says Taiwan is losing espionage battle

A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator said on Monday that espionage operations have faltered in China, with the nation having difficulty recruiting new Chinese spies while losing many former agents.

Lin Yu-fang (林育方) said in a statement that one of the reasons fewer spies are working for Taiwan in China was President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) failure to keep some of the intelligence gathered by the spies confidential.

During an election campaign in 2003, Chen made public the number of missiles China had pointed at Taiwan and also mentioned the sites where the missiles were deployed.

These disclosures had alarmed many Chinese agents working for Taiwan, Lin said.

The reduced number of spies was reflected in Taiwan's sharply cut espionage expenditures over the past two years.

Last year, the Military Intelligence Bureau spent only 65 percent of the money budgeted for "China work," down from 75 percent in 2005 and 90 percent in 2004, Lin said.

Lin did not provide specific budgetary figures in the statement that followed a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and intelligence officials.

Lin also said the military reported 10 cases of officials caught leaking military secrets in the first six months this year, compared with 15 cases last year.

All the revelations indicated "our side has lost the edge in the cross-strait espionage warfare," he said in the statement.

The statement said Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐), head of the National Security Bureau, admitted to the lawmakers that Taiwan's espionage operations have encountered difficulties in China but blamed it on the higher remuneration demanded by the Chinese spies as a result of China's rapid economic growth in recent years.

Shi could not be reached for immediate comment.
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