US Busts Chinese Spies Looking for Taiwan Info

I drove around town yesterday evening on my way home from another marathon gaming session hosted by Chaon, looking for posters of the Hsieh campaign to photograph for the blog. I've seen some lovely Ma campaign posters, but I can't find any of Hsieh yet. The KMT's spending advantage is really telling.

Speaking of spending advantages, CNN reports on spies for Ma Ying-jeou's pals in Beijing busted in the US seeking information on US weapons sales to Taiwan:

In a case brought by federal prosecutors in Virginia, a civilian analyst for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency stands accused of selling to two Chinese associates classified information detailing U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

In a separate case, California prosecutors arrested and charged a long-time employee and contractor for Boeing and Rockwell with providing Beijing secrets dealing with the space shuttle and several other sensitive military aircraft and rocket programs.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein, in a news conference announcing the arrests and charges, twice cited congressional testimony that concluded "aggressive" Chinese government espionage programs have reached levels not seen since the Cold War with the former Soviet Union.

There are actually two cases. The first case involved Taiwan:

In the Virginia case officials charge that Gregg Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, sold highly classified information to Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized citizen who resides in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kuo then allegedly handed the information to Yu Xin Kang, 33, a lawful resident alien also living in New Orleans. Kang in turn allegedly gave the information to a spy for the Chinese government.

According to this report, the data "outlined every planned U.S. sale of weapons or other military technology to Taiwan for the next five years." The second case involves a man who worked for a couple of huge defense engineering companies:

A document says he did it out of loyalty to the Motherland," said U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien.

O'Brien said Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 72, of Orange, California, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had worked for Rockwell, Boeing and a Boeing contractor for more than 30 years.

"Chung made multiple trips to the PRC [People's Republic of China] to deliver lectures on technology involving the space shuttle and other programs, and during those trips he met with officials and agents of the PRC government," O'Brien said. Chung also allegedly provided information on the C-17 military transport and the Delta IV rocket. (indictment online)

But I'm not worried. Everyone knows that Chen Shui-bian is a radical who has damaged US interests and it is Taiwan that is the threat to regional peace, and China is our partner for stability in the region, and will be a responsible player in the international system. All reasonable people know that our rapproachment with Beijing is a matter of realpolitik, and of course, the greatness of a realpolitik decision is measured by the number of one's friends it betrays......

[Taiwan]