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Despite its close relationship with Beijing and its professed adherence to the one-China policy, Burma's junta has allowed Taiwanese spies to operate in the country for nearly two decades, according to Burmese intelligence sources.
The sources said that dozens of Taiwanese agents have been working in Burma with the regime's knowledge since the early 1990s, when a network led by a colonel using the Burmese name Win Naing was first uncovered.
The Taiwanese agents were initially arrested, but were soon released under orders from the office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army), also known as the Ka Ka Kyi, which also instructed Burmese officials to keep quiet about the incident.
Despite its close relationship with Beijing and its professed adherence to the one-China policy, Burma's junta has allowed Taiwanese spies to operate in the country for nearly two decades, according to Burmese intelligence sources.
The sources said that dozens of Taiwanese agents have been working in Burma with the regime's knowledge since the early 1990s, when a network led by a colonel using the Burmese name Win Naing was first uncovered.
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| Chinese President Hu Jintao (center left) and Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe (center right) attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 8. (Photo: Getty Images) |
“The Ka Ka Kyi ordered us to suppress all information about the arrest of the Taiwanese spies so we could make a deal with them to get useful information about China,” a former intelligence officer who was active at the time told The Irrawaddy.
“The Taiwanese spy network is believed to be still active in Burma, particularly in Rangoon, Mandalay, Myitkyina, Lashio and in border towns. The agents are Burma-born Taiwanese who speak Burmese fluently,” he said.
Although they have no formal diplomatic relationship, Burma and Taiwan have strong ties dating back to the years after the Chinese Civil War ended with the defeat of the nationalist Kuomintang Party in 1949.
According to a Burmese researcher based in Taipei, there are around 100,000 Taiwanese citizens of Burmese origin living on the island.
“Most of them live in and around the capital. There is even a Burmese town in Taipei, with branches of popular Burmese teashops, restaurants and music production companies,” said the researcher, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The Burmese regime says that it follows the one-China policy and has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan. But there is definitely a lot of interaction between Burma and Taiwan—some of it secret, but much of it quite open. For example, Taipei has four flights to Rangoon a week.”
The relationship has never, however, been entirely friendly. Although many Kuomintang supporters settled in Burma after fleeing China in 1949, the Burmese army launched a successful offensive against Kuomintang forces in the country in the late 1950s. This, and anti-Chinese riots a decade later, resulted in successive waves of migration to Taiwan.
Despite such episodes in their shared history, however, the two sides have maintained a relatively high level of contact. Until Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party came to power in May 2000, Taipei had economic and cultural offices in Rangoon and Mandalay. Since then, it is believed that informal trading offices and Chinese temples have served to represent Taiwan's interests in Burma and handle its dealings with the regime.
Recent evidence of continuing close ties came in June 2009, when the Taiwan External Trade Development Council signed a trade agreement with Burma’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
Although the Burmese regime counts Beijing as its most important ally, it should come as little surprise that it would engage in a secret arrangement with Taiwanese spies to keep an eye on its giant neighbor to the north. Just as the junta's relationship with India is seen as part of an effort to counterbalance China's growing influence, its ties with Taiwan are likely borne of its fundamental distrust of Beijing's long-term intentions.
In a paper on problems facing Sino-Burmese relations, Chinese Burma scholars Li Chenyang and Lye Liang Fook noted that the regime's leaders vividly remember China’s support for the Burmese Communist Party, which sought to overthrow military rule in the past. They also said that the junta is wary of becoming too dependent on China, as it will then have more leverage over Burma.
One sign of this distrust, they suggested, was the fact that the Burmese junta leaders never travel to China for medical treatment.
