Sat, Jan 17, 2004 page3

• Taiwan protests interviews with detained `spies'

  ESPIONAGE CLAIMS Officials say Beijing set up the interviews between reporters and detained businessmen to score political points in Taiwan

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  Government officials yesterday condemned Beijing's arranging interviews with several China-based Taiwanese businessmen arrested for espionage, calling the move politically motivated and detrimental to the men's human rights.

  On Thursday, the Taiwan Affairs Council of China's State Council and Chinese national security agencies suddenly informed China-based foreign reporters, including those from Taiwan, of interview opportunities with the men, whom they called Taiwanese spies.

  The interviews were arranged shortly after China's semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) published the names of the seven Taiwanese and details of their alleged crimes.

  One of the men, Wang Chang-yung (王長勇), broke down in tears during an interview with Tai-wanese reporters at a Fujian detention center.

  Wang told the reporters he missed his home very much and asked them to tell his family that he is well.

  "Policemen here have taken good care of me," Wang said.

  Wang told the reporters that he had accepted an intelligence-gathering job offered by Taiwan's Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) in 2002 because his business in China was in financial difficulties. He said he was paid NT$40,000 a month.

  Wang said he regretted his decision to work for the bureau.

  "I want my freedom back ? I feel sorry for my family. I have done the wrong thing and am willing to subject myself to the law," he said.

  Wang also blamed the government for cheating him.

  "I hate [President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). I hate his government!" Wang cried.

  "The Taiwanese government has done nothing to help me. They don't care whether I am alive or dead," Wang said, adding that his family has suffered a great deal because of what he said was the government's indifference.

  Chang Keng-huan (張耿桓), another detainee in the same center, also talked to the reporters.

  Both men remained handcuffed throughout the interviews.

  Chang said he agreed to gather intelligence for the Taiwanese government because he needed a huge amount of money to pay for his mother's medical treatment.

  Chang said the government paid him NT$20,000 to NT$30,000 per month for the job.

  "For this job's sake, I have not returned to Taiwan for the Lunar New Year [holiday] for four years. This year I have to pass the Lunar New Year in this detention center," he said.

  Despite the men's statements, officials from the Mainland Affairs Council and the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation insists that all seven businessmen accused of spying are innocent.

  "According to the business-men's families' accounts and information our government has obtained, these businessmen have not been involved in any intelligence activities," said council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通).

  Chen said China has violated normal judicial procedures by pronouncing the men guilty before providing them with proper trials and by arranging the media interviews.

  SEF Deputy Secretary-General Yen Wan-ching (顏萬進) called upon Beijing not to use the men as political tools to influence Tai-wan's presidential election.

  Yen urged China to allow the men to be represented by their own lawyers during their trials.

  "There were similarities in these businessmen's testimonies ? We need to consider what caused these similarities," Yen said, indicating that China may have scripted the men's remarks.
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