Hong Kong, Jan. 17 (CNA) Hong Kong authorities have detained no Taiwanese spies since the former British colony's handover, as a result of a change in policy, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.
The report quoted official sources as saying that they believed Beijing and Hong Kong's Special Administrative Region government did not want to upset relations with Taiwan or prospects for "one country, two systems" by rounding up agents who could also act as a channel for communicating with Taipei.
British authorities had been under pressure to arrest and expel Taiwanese spies to ensure mainland China would not accuse Hong Kong of being a base for subversion before the handover, the sources were quoted as saying.
The detentions had continued until the handover although the police Special Branch responsible for monitoring Taiwanese agents had been largely disbanded by 1995, the sources said.
"It was replaced by the Security Wing, which has taken over a number of Special Branch functions including intelligence and anti-terrorism operations," the report said. "But they are understood not to have been actively operating against agents from Taiwan."
Mainland officials from the Ministry of State Security, many of whom have worked undercover at the state-run Xinhua News Agency, are said to have been running operations against Taiwan spies.
According to the report, many of the spies operating in Hong Kong had been "turned" by mainland agents against the island. (by Belle Chou)
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