October 31:
In an exclusive interview with The Kathmandu Post after his return from China, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal stressed the need for “a strategic tripartite partnership” between China, India and Nepal, to ensure peace, stability and development. Some Maoist hardliners insist that India be named the party’s “principal enemy,” but others, most notably party vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai, are opposed. Dahal said Beijing advised him to improve ties with New Delhi and suggested the tripartite agreement between China, Nepal and India. “It is not that difficult to understand China's concerns,” Dahal said. “If there is peace and stability in Nepal, their security concerns related to Tibet will be addressed.”
November 1:
China regularly pressures its neighbors to prevent any activities carried out under the banner of the 'Free Tibet' movement. Last month Tibetans living in Nepal tried to hold elections for a government-in-exile, but authorities thwarted their attempts after Beijing exerted pressure. While in China to attend the closing ceremonies of the Shanghai Expo, Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav assured Premier Wen Jiabao that Kathmandu staunchly adheres to a “One-China policy” and would not allow “any force” in Nepal to damage China’s interest, India’s Economic Times reports. Meanwhile, The Press Trust of India reports that New Delhi police detained around 50 Tibetans for protesting in front of the Nehru Memorial Library where the ruling Congress Party’s was hosting a seminar on China-India relations with senior Chinese officials including Politburo member Zhou Yongkang.
Amazon's Kindle e-reader is not officially for sale in China but it is being snapped up on resale markets because it circumvents China’s internet censoring system without the need for a proxy server. Using the 3G model, Kindle users can access officially blocked sites such as Facebook and Twitter, making it a popular item on the auction website Taobao – China’s equivalent of eBay. Kindle uses its own network, called Amazon Whispernet, to provide wireless coverage via AT&T's 3G data network in the U.S. and partner networks in the rest of the world. Interestingly, a 3G wireless coverage map on Amazon's website includes numerous Chinese cities, suggesting its 3G link uses a Chinese carrier, the South China Morning Post reports.
November 3:
In the highest level cross-strait espionage case to come to light in two decades Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office and Ministry of Justice have worked together to apprehend Colonel Lo Chi-cheng of Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) and a Taiwanese businessman named Lo Pin on charges of passing intelligence to China. Colonel Lo, who was in charge of Taiwan’s spy network in China, is suspected of passing lists of spies and other classified information and data to China. Prosecutors said the MIB recruited Lo Pin in 2004 to serve as an undercover source in China, but the end of 2004 his cover was blown and he was been picked up by mainland security services in Fujian Province. He claims he was tortured, confessed and later returned to Taiwan to persuade Colonel Lo to collect classified information for China. Beginning in 2007 Colonel Lo started forwarding classified information to Lo Pin on flash drives, which he gave to Chinese intelligence in Hong Kong. Colonel Lo was paid between $4,000 and $6,000 each time he passed information and is believed to have amassed as much as $100,000 in payments. Colonel Lo had been under surveillance and was arrested after a tipoff that he was about to pass classified military intelligence documents to Beijing. The spy ring compromised crucial Taiwanese intelligence networks in China and Taiwan’s agents are now “running for their lives,” the Taipei Times reports.
[Editor’s Note: The issue has already been politicized. Legislator Tsai Huang-liang, of the Democratic Progressive Party questioned whether cross-strait espionage had yet to decrease despite warming economic relations with China. “If the government is so optimistic about cross-strait relations, then why are the espionage battles between the two sides still so heated?” he asked. He also said that the government should immediately act to protect Taiwan’s spies in China and ensure their safe return.]
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