Intelligence

Mystery Taiwan woman in US spy storm named

Mystery Taiwan woman in US spy storm named - SEPT 19, 2004

By Lawrence Chung
A MYSTERIOUS Taiwan woman intelligence officer who accompanied a former senior US diplomat on an unauthorised trip to Taiwan has been identified by the island's media.

Ms Chen Nien-tzu, 34, a Taiwan National Security Bureau agent based in Washington, has been known only as Foreign Person One by US intelligence officials.

The former US official was Donald Keyser, a top adviser to US Secretary of State Colin Powell on China issues. He has been charged with concealing the trip in September last year.

According to an affidavit presented to the court by the FBI, Keyser had frequent contacts with Foreign Person One, despite the sharp differences in ranking and age between the two.

He is almost 30 years her senior.

While Keyser was an assistant secretary of state before he retired in July, Ms Chen was a low-level agent, whose name was not even listed by the Taiwanese mission in the United States.

The affidavit said on Sept 3, 2003, that Keyser flew to Taiwan from Japan for a three-day sightseeing trip. Washington-based Foreign Person One flew all the way back to Taiwan to accompany him.

On May 29 this year, Keyser took a long weekend trip to New York by train with Foreign Person One, the affidavit said, but made no suggestion about the status of their relationship.

The 1.65-m-tall Ms Chen, who just celebrated her 34th birthday, had graduated from the political science institute of National Taiwan University.

She later worked at the National Security Bureau, and was posted to Britain, before being sent to the US, cable channel TVBS said.

Taipei-based China Times described her as a very popular cheerleader in high school.

The paper said Ms Chen had served as an assistant of then legislator Chen Chien-jen of the opposition Kuomintang for three month after she graduated. The legislator later became Taiwan's representative to the US.

Ms Chen married her university sweetheart shortly after she graduated, but they divorced after she was posted to Britain.

News of Ms Chen's return to Taiwan yesterday sent the local media on a hunt for her. The National Security Bureau yesterday refused to disclose her whereabouts.

Foreign Ministry officials refuted reports which suggested any love relationship between Keyser and Ms Chen or that he was set up by Taiwan, who used her to seduce him.

Keyser had passed documents to Ms Chen and her boss, identified by as Lieutenant General Huang Kuang-hsun - the island's highest-ranking intelligence officer posted to the US.

September 19, 2004 at 10:59 AM in China | Permalink | TrackBack (140) | Top of page | Blog Home