China has said its intelligence officers found more than 20 spying devices in a Boeing 767 meant to become President Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) official plane after it was delivered from the US, the Financial Times said yesterday.
Citing Chinese officials, the newspaper said it was unclear when the aircraft was fitted with the bugs, said to be tiny and operated by satellite.
The devices were detected after the plane emitted a strange static whine during test flights in China in September, shortly after it was delivered. One device was found in a lavatory and another in the headboard of the presidential bed.
The discovery came ahead of a planned summit between US President George W. Bush and Jiang in Beijing next month. Jiang was said to be furious about the find, the FT said.
The aircraft was made at the Boeing factory in Seattle and then fitted with VIP equipment and upholstery by another company. The plane was under surveillance by Chinese officials throughout, the newspaper said.
An official from the Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday said he could not confirm if the report was true and no one was available for comment from the civil aviation authority administration.
Boeing had no comment on the report but spokeswoman Debbie Heathers said a 767-300ER plane, which was delivered to Delta Air Lines in June 2000, was re-sold to China United Airlines -- the air force-run airline that ordered the aircraft -- and customized for executive use by Jiang by a modification company in Texas.
A Delta spokesman said he had no immediate comment.
A source close to the transaction said the maintenance on the aircraft between the time it left Delta Air Lines and the time it was sold to China United Airlines was carried out by Dee Howard Aircraft Maintenance in San Antonio, Texas.
The US Central Intelligence Agency had no comment, according to yesterday's Washington Post.
The FT quoted Chinese officials as saying the security forces had launched an investigation into possible negligence within China United Airlines and state-owned China Aviation Supplies Export and Import Corp (CASC), which was responsible for importing the plane.
About 20 air force officers had been held for questioning and two CASC officials had been taken into custody for questioning, the FT said.
The US and China clashed over espionage issues in April last year when a Chinese fighter jet and US surveillance plane collided over the South China Sea, resulting in the death of the Chinese pilot and the grounding of the US plane in China.
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