Officers from the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) will no longer be sent “behind enemy lines” in China to collect intelligence, sources are saying, which, if true, could undermine Taiwan’s ability to understand developments in China.
Citing unnamed sources in intelligence circles, the Chinese--language China Times reported last week that under new directives issued to the military spy agency, the bureau would no longer be allowed to send its agents to China or direct Taiwanese businesspeople based there to collect classified information or develop spy networks.
According to the article, the MIB will be barred from breaking laws and regulations in China and will limit itself to using networks that are already in place to collect information from open sources such as journals, books, newspapers and academic papers.
Meanwhile, its collection of classified information and human intelligence on China will focus on overseas Chinese or Chinese who visit Taiwan on a regular basis.
Amid the government’s restructuring efforts, the bureau has been streamlined to cover six areas of responsibility, namely: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Europe, electronic intelligence and administration.
Similar directives appear to have been issued to the National Security Bureau (NSB), the nation’s principal civilian spy agency.
According to the China Times, NSB officers will cease cooperating with allies in Southeast Asia in monitoring Chinese vessels passing through the Strait of Malacca and could curtail efforts to conduct “backdoor” communications intercepts inside China via India.
In addition, an unidentified country in Central America has also approached the NSB and offered to monitor and collect intelligence from China’s representative office in that country for the Taiwanese government, provided that the NSB was willing to provide the funding needed for the operation. The bureau turned down the offer after thorough consideration.
According to an anonymous source familiar with Taiwan’s intelligence collection operations, China’s representative offices in various countries have always been vital channels through which the Taiwanese government obtained intelligence, as their security measures on classified documentations were less stringent than those seen within the Chinese government.
“In the past, we [the Taiwanese government] would normally not turn down such ‘paid service’ for intelligence collection due to the adequate funding earmarked for such purposes and China’s apparent efforts to poach our country’s diplomatic allies in Central America,” the source said.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major-General David Lo (羅紹和) told the Taipei Times yesterday that the ministry does not comment on intelligence matters.
Such directives, which could not be independently confirmed, would occur as Beijing increases pressure on the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to engage in political talks and sign a peace accord. Although a drawdown of aggressive intelligence collection in China could send signals of goodwill to Beijing, it should be noted that intelligence agencies rarely discuss their means of collection or the true nature of their operations.
Among other restructuring plans, the MIB’s information operations will now fall directly under General Staff Headquarters rather than the NSB, with the unit in charge of communications intercepts in China being annexed to the ministry’s Communications Development Office, the China Times said, adding that the unit had moved to Sindian District (新店), New Taipei City (新北市).
An unnamed military source said that the MIB’s human resource and intelligence operations would no longer be overseen by the NSB director, as is the case at present.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS