Australia spying on Japanese embassy: Newspaper report
Australia spying on Japanese embassy: Newspaper report
SYDNEY (AFP): Australia mounted widespread and systematic
spying against the Japanese embassy in Canberra, according to a
new report here yesterday.
In the latest of a flood of claims of espionage involving
Australia and its trading partners, The Sydney Morning Herald
said sensitive trade and diplomatic information was being
intercepted from Japan's Canberra mission.
It was then decoded, translated and made available to "even
relatively junior staff" in the department of foreign affairs and
trade.
Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said surveillance and
eavesdropping had also been conducted against other countries
with diplomatic missions in Canberra, including Indonesia,
Malaysia, Iraq, Iran and Russia.
The surveillance of foreign missions revealed the
conversations of Australian bureaucrats visiting them for
consultations.
A "senior diplomat" was quoted as saying: "It is funny to read
an embassy's account of a visit you have made to their mission
and their interpretation of your conversations."
Reports last week said Japan, among other countries, had been
spying on Australia, inspiring indignant denials by the Japanese
embassy and embarrassing Canberra during a visit to Japan by
Prime Minister Paul Keating.
Government sources, while refusing to confirm or deny the
reports, have described them as "not helpful" and that they put
"an element of strain" into bilateral relationships at a very
high level.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday that
"extremely valuable information" had been relayed to US
intelligence from a network of fiber-optic bugging devices
planted in the Chinese embassy during its construction in the
late '80s.
Australia's conservative opposition has refused to be drawn
into the spy claims, arguing they could damage the national
interest.
However, Australia's former ambassador to China, Hugh Dunn,
said any damage from allegations that Australia had bugged the
Chinese embassy was likely to be limited because all diplomats
expected they were under electronic surveillance.
"I can't see why it would be in anyone's interests to keep
blowing it up," Dunn said in a radio interview.
"Everyone knows spy stories are great stories, they're great
news, everyone likes to read them ... and everyone also knows
that most countries do indulge in such practices.
"I assume the Chinese, who are a very professional foreign
service, would do it also, so there would be a careful watch on
this sort of thing made at all times."
The reports followed allegations that members of the Chinese
community here have been the target of espionage activity by
Chinese agents here.
They also followed complaints by disgruntled former agents of
Australia's secret overseas intelligence network concerning their
personal treatment.