Chinese underworld figure Lai Changxing has told authorities in Canada that he used Hong Kong as a major base for intelligence operations.
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Lai said he ran a base for intelligence operations out of Hong Kong.
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The details of the spying operation was disclosed during a court hearing in a Vancouver courtroom last week.
Lai told the court that 16 Taiwanese agents were under his control between 1997 and 1998 and that their payments were made by an intermediary in Hong Kong who was working for Beijing.
ÒSomebody in Hong Kong was in charge of this matter of distributing the salaries,Ó Lai said. ÒI would give the money to this person. I never saw this person. I was never able to.Ó
Lai is seeking political asylum in Canada and is being sought by Beijing for prosecution on smuggling charges.
Lai revealed that his office in Xiamen was a post for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the civilian intelligence service.
One Taiwanese government agent provided documents containing classified information on Taiwanese troop movements on the islands of Kinmen and Matsu, within a few miles of the Chinese coast.
According to Lai, Chinese President Jiang Zemin angrily slammed a table at a secret meeting in Beijing in March 1996 after he discovered that mainland spies had tipped off Taipei that the short-range missile tests conducted near the island did not have live warheads.
Lai is believed by U.S. intelligence officials to know about Chinese government efforts to influence the U.S. political parties.
