November 2, 2006: For the last four years, Taiwan has hosted an increasing number of tourists from China. In that time, some 160,000 Chinese tourists, organized into 11,000 different groups, came over. Taiwanese counter-intelligence expected the Chinese to put some spies among the tourists, but none have been caught to date. During the last four years, 53 groups did not follow their agreed upon itinerary, and ventured off on their own. Some of those trips were near military facilities, but nothing really obvious in the espionage department. In addition, 123 Chinese tourists disappeared entirely, and these the police went after. As a result 94 were found, all working at better jobs than they could get back in China. The other 29? No one knows. They might just have been economic immigrants who were clever enough to avoid getting found. Or some may have been spies. Meanwhile, police have noticed sustained interest by Chinese tourists in air bases housing F-16 squadrons. Taiwanese counter-intelligence officials are silent about just what one should make of this.
