Mainland smashes Taiwan spy ring
( 2003-12-24 11:04) (chinadaily.com.cn)
State security departments of the mainland have rounded up 24 Taiwanese and 19 mainlanders who have confessed to spying in the Chinese mainland for Taiwan authorities, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.
"State security departments of the Chinese mainland have smashed a ring of intelligence agents," Xinhua said.
The intelligence departments of Taiwan have never given up their attempts to spy on the mainland, noting that these spies conducted activities in violation of the law, Xinhua quoted the spokesman for the state security authorities as saying.
The law never allows anyone to threaten the safety and interests of the mainland, and moreover, what these spies did may bring catastrophes and bitterness to the people of Taiwan, the spokesman said.
The report did not further identify those detained or say what sort of spying they conducted. A Hong Kong newspaper disclosed that the spies tried to steal military information, especially that on the mainland's missile deployment across the Taiwan Straits.
The group had "conducted activities in violation of the law." And the spies were captured and interrogated "strictly in accordance with the law," and that all have been provided with daily necessities and medical services, according to the Xinhua report.
"Currently, the case is being further investigated, though these spies have confessed all their crimes," it said, quoting an unidentified spokesman for the security services.
According to the HK newspaper, Taiwan "President" Chen Shui-bian blew the cover of the island's spies in a speech last month in which he listed the locations of 496 missiles he said the mainland had pointed at Taiwan.
Taiwan's secretive Military Intelligence Bureau released a rare statement saying: "To this moment, after undergoing verification, we can say none of our personnel has been arrested there," the Associated Press reports.
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