Candidates doubt bodyguards

Bodyguards specially trained by the National Security Bureau (NSB) to protect presidential candidates formally begin their service today and will be on assignment until March 19, one day after the presidential election.

Each of the five candidates, the vice presidential candidates and their families will receive 24-hour protection by 45 agents. Female officers were also selected for the two female vice presidential candidates.

The NSB has briefed the candidates, their staff and families on its protection measures for them over the past three days.

Military officials said the bodyguards will be mainly under police authority, who act under orders from NSB officials ranging in rank from lieutenant general to major.

Last week, the NSB held a high-profile press conference to exhibit advanced weaponry and equipment its agents and police officers involved in the operation will be equipped with to carry out their assignments.

NSB director General Ting Yu-chou (丁渝洲), speaking at the ceremony, assured the public that the NSB will maintain political neutrality in the election and that if the NSB were discovered to be eavesdropping on any of the presidential candidates, he would take full responsibility.

But as Ting made the assurance, suspected eavesdropping cases were reported from campaign offices of opposition presidential candidates.

The Kaohsiung campaign manager of DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) claimed wires had been tapped at their campaign office.

Officials with the Taipei headquarters of the minor opposition New Party said they knew their phone conversations in the office have been monitored by secret agents lurking in the neighborhood but that they haven't discovered where the agents were hiding.

They said they will not trust bodyguards sent by the NSB and that they will seek to protect their party secrets by holding important meetings in places outside the party headquarters.

New Party presidential candidate Li Ao (李敖) was reported to have initially refused bodyguard services provided by the NSB but he later changed his mind after what local Chinese-language newspapers said was anonymous intimidation calls which reached him after he refused the services.

A retired military officer, who now works as a volunteer at the Taipei campaign office of independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), said he did discover some security service agents hanging around in the neighborhood of Soong's campaign office.

The officer said he recognized some of the agents because they were his juniors at a military academy.

Declining to reveal the identity of these agents, the officer said they were equipped with advanced eavesdropping devices.

The devices, which make use of the latest in infra-red and sonar technology, are strong enough to allow users to detect what a person is keying into a computer, the officer said.