“Spy War” is not just a drama on the screen, in the real world, it is staged every day, and it is even more exciting and treacherous. Recently, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed a new revision of the “Anti-Espionage Law”, which is aimed at the threat of new methods of espionage warfare. It is reported that Hong Kong’s 23 pieces of legislation may also include some content to combat espionage activities in Hong Kong. A friend who is familiar with security affairs told me that foreign spies can infiltrate Hong Kong everywhere, and cracking down on “agents” is the most effective way to deal with it.
Friends familiar with security affairs pointed out that American spies operating in Hong Kong are generally not staff members of official agencies such as the U.S. Consulate General, but will cover up as journalists, scholars, and NGO personnel.
Hong Kong has always been the “capital of spies” and has gained a reputation internationally. From the Cold War era to the handover, Hong Kong has not changed. This friend who has personally experienced the years of “spy shadows” said that spies from the United States, Britain and other countries generally do not come to Hong Kong as staff members of the intelligence agencies they belong to, but will obtain work visas and enter the country as employees. There are different occupations. The most common ones are journalists, editors, scholars, NGO staff, employees of business organizations, and even priests. Before the reunification, there were very few restrictions on American and British people coming to work in Hong Kong, and a large number of “intelligence personnel” who placed orders were active in Hong Kong, and they were everywhere.
This reminds me of when I was studying at CUHK in the 1970s, I heard that a center for China Studies in Kowloon was actually an intelligence agency. Hong Kong intelligence. Recently, I have obtained some information about the “intelligence warfare” in Hong Kong during the Cold War, which has confirmed that the rumors back then were true.
Friends said that before the reunification, some intelligence personnel in the UK were assigned to be civil servants in the government, which essentially had a dual identity. Of course, this situation gradually faded out after the reunification, but it still cannot be eradicated.
It has long been rumored in the officialdom that before the reunification, Hodder, who was the Chief Secretary, was also an agent of the British intelligence agency. At the same time, a group of intelligence personnel joined the government as civil servants.
Many years ago, I talked about this matter with some senior officials and politicians in the 1990s. They all pointed out that Hodder, who was the chief secretary, was a “secret agent” and had inextricable ties to the British Military Intelligence 6 (MI 6). relation. With the cooperation of the political department of the police at that time, he obtained “secret information” of many local high-level people, which influenced their stance on Beijing.
In addition to the United States, Britain and other countries, Taiwan also has agents engaged in espionage activities in Hong Kong. I have read a report in Taiwan’s authoritative political magazine “New News”, saying that after the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the “Hong Kong National Security Law” in 2020, the Military Intelligence Bureau under the Taipei Ministry of National Defense began to respond, and was responsible for the “fourth” of intelligence collection in Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia. “Office”, urgently and significantly reducing the number of people coming to Hong Kong, Hong Kong informants who are not in the establishment also temporarily submerged, watching the situation and waiting for orders. It can be seen that in the past Taiwan’s intelligence agencies have always deployed personnel in Hong Kong.
A friend pointed out that foreign spies generally have legitimate professional identities to cover up, and some of them may have lived for 7 years and obtained the right of residence. Unless they blatantly steal information related to national security, they are not easy to control.
He believes that if “anti-espionage” is to be “anti-espionage”, legislative control of “foreign agents” is the most effective. The so-called “agents” are people who work for foreign governments and organizations. In many cases, foreign governments use these people to collect intelligence related to national security or engage in sabotage activities.
One of the key points of the revision of the “Counter-Espionage Law” passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress this time is to expand the definition of “espionage” to include “affiliation with espionage organizations and their agents” to make counter-espionage more powerful and more effective. efficient.
The international situation is changing. In the future, Hong Kong will still be an important battlefield for the “espionage war”. The part of the “anti-espionage” legislation in Article 23 also needs to be changed according to the time and situation. As for how to build a strong “anti-espionage” force, it is another important issue.
Tokihito Monogatari
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