Military scales down its spy operations in China

The Military Intelligence Bureau yesterday conceded that six of its major intelligence programs in China have been suspended or scaled down for reasons the bureau did not want to specify.

"The suspension or scaling down of these programs will not impact our intelligence operations in China too much," said Kuo Jung-chang (郭榮長), a department chief with the bureau.

"Our intelligence operations in China operate on a linear, rather than horizontal, structure. Our intelligence agents do not have contact with any of their peers. They have contact only with their direct superiors," Kuo said.

Because of this structure, Kuo said that scaling down its operations will not affect overall intelligence gathering.

Kuo made the remarks yesterday at a meeting of the defense committee of the Legislative Yuan, responding to inquiries from an opposition party lawmaker over whether the cuts had been made.

The lawmaker based his questions on a local Chinese-language media report yesterday which quoted anonymous sources who said the cuts had been made as a gesture of goodwill toward China and that the move had been approved by the central government.

Kuo refused to comment on the motives behind the cuts, saying he would only elaborate if the media were not present.

The six suspended or scaled down intelligence operation programs identified in the report included the Hsia Yang (夏陽), or Summer Sun, program and the Li Ming (黎明), or Dawn, program.

The Hsia Yang program focused on collecting information on 90 locations in China with strategic value, including the cities of Beijing, Tienjin, Shenyang, Nanjing and Guangzhou, while the Li Ming prepared for raids on coastal areas in China's southeastern provinces in the event of a war between the two sides of the Strait, the report said.

Also at yesterday's meeting, Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) said he had yet to find out how accurate the report was.

Lawmaker Helen Chu (朱鳳芝) of the KMT asked Wu whether the bureau's move could be considered capitulation to the enemy.

Wu said that he could not accept any view that would consider the cuts as such.

More than 100 of Taiwan's senior agents in China have left their positions over the past two years because of a series of intelligence setbacks.

The incidents include the arrest and execution of a PLA general by Chinese authorities for collecting information for Taiwan, as well as the defections to China of a former bureau station chief and of former National Security Bureau personnel department chief Major General Pan His-hsien (潘希賢).