US could make Xinhua give up building
REUTERS in Washington
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Updated at 11.15am:
The United States could require Xinhua (the new China News Agency) to give up an office building it has bought within sight of the Pentagon, the US State Department said overnight (HK time).
The United States says Xinhua failed to apply for State Department permission to buy the building and some members of Congress say they are worried that mainland intelligence might use the agency's office to spy on the Pentagon.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Xinhua obtained title to the building on June 15, when the deed was recorded in Arlington County, Virginia, the county which also contains the headquarters of the US Defence Department.
The State Department says the Chinese Embassy, which is responsible for Xinhua, did not meet a requirement under the Foreign Missions Act that all foreign missions obtain approval to buy real estate. The embassy says it did inform the State Department and never heard any objection in reply.
''At this point we are considering all the options available to us under the act, talking to the embassy and working with the Justice Department on act, talking to the embassy and working with the Justice Department on questions of violations and remedies,'' Mr Reeker said.
He noted that under the 1982 act, ''the Secretary [of State] may require any foreign mission to divest itself of, or forgo the use of, any real property determined by the Secretary ... not to have been acquired in accordance with this section'' - in other words, acquired without prior approval.
A conservative congressman said the building could give Xinhua a strategic view of the Pentagon.
''I'm very concerned to hear that what well could be an arm of Communist Chinese intelligence is now overlooking the Pentagon and has a bird's eye view electronically of everything we're doing,'' said Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, in the House.
But the Pentagon was more relaxed about the danger.
''We are mature enough to realise, and realistic enough to realise, that this building is subject to surveillance from a number of different directions and has been for more than 50 years and we obviously have a number of countermeasures we have installed over time,'' said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.
Sprawled out on the west bank of the Potomac river directly opposite Washington, the Pentagon is one of the capital area's most visible buildings and is easily accessible by public highways and underground rail. |
