Detained Chinese ‘spy’ says espionage work to Philippines began in 2016

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese spy She Zhijiang, currently detained in Thailand and fighting repatriation to China, claimed in an Al Jazeera documentary that he began his spy work in the Philippines in 2016 while evading Chinese authorities who had ordered his arrest for illegal gambling.

He said his recruiter vowed to arrange the dropping of his criminal case if he accepted the intelligence work.

In the documentary, She alleged having worked with dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo for China’s Ministry of State Security, the communist party’s secret police agency.

The self-confessed spy also echoed the Senate findings that Guo is a full-blooded Chinese whose mother is Lin Wen Yi.

Files shown by She to Al Jazeera included a dossier on Guo Hua Ping, including her local address in Fujian province that is also the local address of the Communist Party of China.

“Guo Hua Ping, China cannot be trusted. The two of us once dedicated our lives to China’s Ministry of State Security. Look at what happened to me,” he said.

“If you don’t want to be eliminated, you should tell the world the truth,” She added.

Senate President Francis Escudero said it is up to the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Foreign Affairs (DFA) to coordinate with Thailand authorities if they wish to dig deeper into the allegations raised by She against Guo.

Escudero said the Al Jazeera documentary on She should be looked into by authorities for possible filing of an espionage case against Guo.

The Senate president said there is a need for Philippine government agencies to coordinate with Thailand where She is detained for alleged illegal online gambling.

“I cannot say if the documentary should be believed. The problem is his testimony given in Thailand might not be used in court because there is no chance to cross-examine. That is up to the DOJ prosecutors and DFA to determine. It is a complicated process,” Escudero said in a dwIZ interview on Saturday, September 28.

“In any case, the incident could fall within the provisions of espionage, which is spying for a country even without war,” he added.

Escudero lauded the congressional investigation on Guo for putting the spotlight on the proliferation of illegal offshore gambling as well as the collusion between international criminal syndicates and local government officials.

For his part, Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said while the documentary was aired by a legitimate news agency, he cautioned against readily taking as fact the testimony of a detainee.

“Let us not easily believe the words of a detained person. There are a lot of factors which impose pressure on a detained witness,” Pimentel said in a separate dwIZ interview.

Meanwhile, former senator Ping Lacson lauded the House quad committee for confronting Guo with the documentary and grilling her on her alleged ties to the Chinese communist party.

“Let’s give it to the House of Representatives’ quad comm for their excellent investigative work in exposing Guo Hua’ping a.k.a. Alice Guo with yet to be authenticated official  documents and statement of a ‘self-confessed spy’ hired by China Ministry of State Security,” Lacson said in a statement.

“Paging the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and National Security Adviser,” he added.