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Report: United States Bugged China’s Embassy In Australia
PETER JAMES SPIELMANNMay 27, 1995
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Australia slipped eavesdropping devices into the Chinese Embassy as part of a U.S.-led spying effort, Australian Broadcasting Corp. television reported Friday.
The devices were installed by Australia’s Security Intelligence Organization in the late 1980s when the embassy was being built in Canberra, ABC said. The embassy opened in 1990.
The bugs transmitted to a receiver at the rear of the nearby British Embassy and relayed information to the U.S. National Security Agency, the report said.
No one was available for comment at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra late Friday. The Chinese Embassy had no comment. A spokesman at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., declined comment.
The United States kept control of the intelligence gathered, giving Australia information when it believed it was justified, ABC said.
Some Australian diplomats believe the United States may have withheld commercial information that could have benefited Australian economic interests or eavesdropped on Australia’s commercial dealings with China, ABC said.
Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada share certain intelligence under a Cold War-era acccord.
The television report was delayed by 24 hours after ABC dropped it from its Thursday evening newscast at the request of Australia’s Foreign Affairs Department. It was unclear why the broadcast went ahead Friday.