BEIJING: Footage of a Chinese general discussing sensitive spying cases has been leaked onto YouTube, in what appears to be an embarrassing failure of secrecy for the usually tight-lipped military.
It wasn’t clear when or where Major-General Jin Yinan made the comments, and China’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond yesterday to faxed questions about the video. Calls to the National Defence University, where Jin is a lecturer, rang unanswered.
While some of the cases had been announced before, few details had been released, while others involving the military had been entirely secret.
Among those Jin discussed was that of former ambassador to South Korea Li Bin, who was sentenced to seven years for corruption. Jin said Li had actually been discovered passing secrets to South Korea that compromised China’s position in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, but the allegations were too embarrassing to make public, and graft charges were brought instead.
“In all the world, what nation’s ambassador serves as another country’s spy?” Jin said.
Similar treatment was handed out to the former head of China’s nuclear power programme, Kang Rixin, who was sentenced to life in prison last November on charges of corruption. Jin said Kang had in fact peddled secrets about China’s civilian nuclear programme to a foreign nation, which he did not identify, but it was considered too sensitive to bring up in court.
Kang, a member of the ruling Communist Party’s powerful Central Committee as well as its disciplinary arm, was one of the highest-ranking officials ever to be involved in spying, Jin said. His arrest had dealt a major shock to the party leadership.
“The party centre was extremely nervous. They ordered top-to-bottom inspections and spared no individual,” Jin added.
Jin also talked about Tong Daning, an official from China’s social security fund, who was executed in 2006 after being convicted on charges of spying for Taiwan.
Jin said Tong had passed information to the island’s leaders about China’s currency regime, allowing them to avoid massive losses due to exchange rate changes.
The video was also posted on Chinese websites, and while it was removed from most locations, screen shots, audio files and transcripts of Jin’s comments could still be found on some sites.
The video posted online appeared to have been taken from an official recording of the session, rather than filmed by a member of the audience. – Sapa-AP