A spy istoryahe

I thought I was watching a James Bond movie. The elements were there: an alleged Chinese spy, who embedded himself in a foreign land, was caught with devices for espionage. A certain Deng Yuanqing was arrested last Jan. 17 in Makati City. The Armed Forces of the Philippines insisted he is a sleeper agent who could easily blend in the crowd. Prior to his arrest, Mr. Deng was reportedly traveling around the Philippines conducting reconnaissance activity of government facilities, including critical infrastructure facilities like military installations, ports, communication grids, energy grids, among others.

Authorities added that Mr. Deng is a technical software engineer trained in an army engineering school, the People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology. He is said to be a specialist in control or automation engineering.

The devices seized from Deng, according to the National Bureau of Investigation, is capable of producing coordinates and can be used for drone control to identify topography and terrain. Also part of Deng’s equipment is one that can remotely access devices over the internet without entering the facility or building.

I almost took the Chinese espionage istoryahe hook, line and sinker until Harvard-educated Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro blamed China for its 2017 Intelligence Law, which mandates every Chinese company or citizen to be an agent of the Chinese intelligence establishment. Naloko na! There are 1.4 billion Chinese in mainland China. Does it mean there are 1.4 billion spies?

Political vlogger Sass Rogando Sassot, along with other vloggers, scoffed at the bulky spying equipment, as opposed to the discreet hardware setup for an espionage mission. In an era when advanced artificial intelligence, high-resolution satellites, electronic and cyber surveillance, unmanned aerial vehicles and drones are the norm, our local authorities are stuck with the intelligence-gathering devices available in Raon, Quiapo. Patawa!

One netizen raised these valid points: “Why would China make it hard to spy on a country using obsolete devices that our Armed Forces called high-tech and sophisticated? That alone is an outright lie intended to dumb down the people. Also, risking their citizens’ lives for espionage when they can use satellites? They [our officials] are obviously lying and covering bigger, more pressing issues.”

Noemi Deng, wife of the alleged Chinse spy, disputed the espionage tag, saying her husband is not even a university graduate and had worked for a company that is into self-drive cars, similar to Waze.

What concerns me is the larger picture of human rights attached to the Chinese espionage issue. There is verified information that the alleged Chinese spy has been tortured (nabugbog in the vernacular) while in detention. Torture, as we all know, is unacceptable. It is a universal crime and an international crime against humanity. Physical injuries take time to heal. Is this the reason why the request of the Chinese embassy in Manila for consular assistance to the said Chinese has taken a long time to be granted?

In Avena vs USA, decided by the International Court of Justice, failure to comply with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations can vacate and nullify criminal conviction of domestic tribunals if the state of the accused is not notified of criminal proceedings. Having said this, if Deng has been proven to be a spy, judgment could be annulled for failure to comply with the convention.

In addition, the Philippines, I have to remind our officials, became a State Party to the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in June 1986. We likewise have Republic Act 9745, or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, which prohibits any form of physical or mental harm against individuals under investigation or in custody.

As human beings, let us simply follow the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How many overseas Filipino workers are there in mainland China? More than 12,000 in China; 196,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong; 30,000 in Macau and 154,000 in Taiwan. Does our government want the same treatment to be given to our nationals once an offense is committed in those Chinese areas? The answer is, of course, No! Let us therefore treat other nationals the way we want our Filipino nationals to be treated. We want fairness, let us be the first to show fairness.

The problem with our President and his minions is that they treat the Chinese as the enemy because of their pro-America stance. They become more American than the Americans. Donald Trump, in his inauguration as the 47th President of the United States, even broke protocol and invited President Xi Jinping to Washington. Vice President Han Zheng attended as Xi’s special representative. President Trump likewise takes pride in saying he has “always had a great relationship” with President Xi, and said during the virtual interview at the World Economic Forum, that he looked forward to “getting along with China.”

While President Trump continues his America First policy, he recognizes the importance of China as the world’s second largest economy and puts priority on US-China bilateral economic relations. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that even before he took office, Trump told his advisers that he wanted to travel to China in his first 100 days in office.

Where does Trump’s friendly ties with Xi leave Marcos Jr. who quarreled with our Giant Neighbor in the North? Will he continue living in his own fantasyland and pitch his budol investment project, the Maharlika Investment Fund, which has yet to attract a single investment despite PBBM’s record-high foreign junkets?

Pivot to China, again! Well, hope spring eternal. This is the Wooden Snake Year which encourages us to shed what no longer supports our growth.