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China TIM: I have been traveling in and out of China for the past 15 years. I have yet to NOT have my room and my telephone monitored. They also monitor all computer communications. I have never gone in with any obvious TSCM equipment so I cannot discuss that issue. It was really weird at first to always have a "vacant" room between myself and my associate. Don Smithbran@aol.com Am checking, but believe our associates in Hong Kong can do TSCM work in China. Will advise. Harry Brandon Smithbran@aol.com Smith Brandon International www.smithbrandon.com Tim, Nothing has changed from what your cohort has described. The security folks at the airport will make your equipment disappear faster than a magician with a stage prop, while all the time being so damn polite and smiling and nodding in a way that will make you just want to scream. And if by some odd chance they miss the stuff there, you will most definitely encounter folks at the hotel, conference center, or wherever who will dime you and your equipment out in a New York minute (I swear they must get some kind of finder's fee or salvage rights). And unless the person making the inquiry has access to a 'diplomatic pouch' no one should even consider trying to 'sneak it in' and then actually use it. The politeness and smiles increase exponentially when those lads get to cry, 'spy'. I know of no credible TSCM practitioners in all of China who would risk telling your person the truth, even if they did agree to perform a sweep. And so I think your person is left with doing what my executives have been taught about conducting business in China, France, and a few other similar lands afar: Assume that you are being watched, listened to and even mind-sucked at every turn. Act appropriately and take some reasonable and proper precautions to safeguard everything business-related in your possession. But never do anything (i.e. try to do your own sweep or any other such James Bond junk) that would offend your hosts by indicating that you think you are slicker than they are - you will always lose that bet! Other than that - enjoy your trip! That's what I have encountered - others may have found things to be different. Bob It is highly illegal to bring any type of TSCM equipment into PRC. In fact, a well know Asia based investigation company had 4 of their people in jail in the PRC for this same reason. It is even illegal to use encryption software on your email in PRC. We are doing quite a bit of business sin PRC these days and would encourage you to contact our office to discuss how we can support your client legally. Philip J. Curlewis Managing Director The Steele Foundation - Asia Pacific "Enterprise Risk Management Solutions" Level 25, Bank of China Building No. 1 Garden Road Central Hong Kong SAR Asia-Pacific Headquarters +(852) 2251 1866 (Main Office) +(852) 2251 1864 (Facsimile) +(852) 9094 6023 (Mobile) Worldwide PBX Direct: +1 (415) 354 3848 Email: pcurlewis@wwsteele.com Website: www.steelefoundation.com Hi Tim, That sounds pretty much the norm to me. We were asked by a U.K. Oil Company to research conducting a 'sweep' operation in China last year, we eventually submitted a quote with the proviso that they might have to reimburse us for our equipment. They eventually settled for a comprehensive and exhaustive physical search!. By the way, add us to your list for operations in the U.K. and Europe, I, personally am the physical search guy, (ex-Drugs Squad, Crime Squad Etc.) and my partner is a 'Receiver Man', spends hours programming chips and re-inventing his spectrum analyzer. regards from Scotland, ROBIN HUNTER AEGIS INTELLIGENCE LIMITED "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER" Member of EPIC (www.epic-uk.com) tel. 0131 312 8480 fax. 087 0132 8085 mobile. 07790900005 email. enquiries@aegisintelligence.co.uk www.aegisintelligence.co.uk Data Protection Reg. No. Z7582560 Standby Member of Missingkin.com www.missingkin.com Hi Tim, Expect anything... My Employer (No Names, Please) has a branch office in Beijing and their government "keeper" simply walks in and inspects or joins meetings at any time he pleases. Privacy is a scarce commodity in that part of the world. "Bob" the American Society For Industrial Security (ASIS) has the Resources you need. John Tim, If the company is serious about doing business in China it should begin now to gather information. There are a few books and other sources that deal with business etiquette, etc. that they may already know about. However, if they would like to commission a quick report on security and related matters, I can be of assistance. Also, I offer a service that involves culling open source information about China and putting it into an easy-to-ready format that can be done on a schedule that can be arranged, as well as some training and other consulting services that the company should consider. I would be happy to be in either direct or indirect (via you and/or your colleague) contact to explore this further, but you can use the following links to my website for more information: Consulting and Information Services Security Awareness Workshop Regards, Mayer From: "Mayer Nudell, CSC" Mayer.Nudell@speconsult.com Tim, Don't know if this is much help, but a former colleague of mine, Bill O'Reilly (retired Bureau agent) is located in Asia, and his company (Spectrum OSO Asia Ltd) does an extensive amount of work in PRC. They're in the investigative business, but I'm not sure about TSCM. You can check them out at www.spec-oso.com. Bill's email is woreilly@spec-oso.com. Hope that helps, Bill Marshall Managing Director GlobalSource LLC 2000 L Street, N.W. Suite 702 Washington, DC 20036 Tel.: (202) 833-2800 Fax: (202) 833-2850 Mob.: (202) 641-4981 bmarshall@globalsourcellc.com Hi Tim: I do know what you can expect in technology, but you need to have a license to work or a licensed JV to provide the services. FE&E is applying for just such a license and expect to be one of the very few PIs licensed in PRC. As for what you expect on loss of information - it can be substantial. One of our fellows is an attorney who practices law in US and the PRC and could be of some help as a team member. Rate is $250 per hour plus expenses. Let me know if we can be of help. Burke From: "L. B. Files" When I was a Corporate Security Investigator for XXX Co, we utilized the State Department informational page. There is also a subscription service that sends out travel warnings concerning 'hot' areas in the world. http://travel.state.gov/tips_china.html Best Regards, Ed Hi Tim. When you need contacts or assistance in Asia or almost anywhere in the world, I will possibly be able to assist or help in some way. In this case, please contact Mr. Keith Davis. He and his guys in Asia area might be able to help. They are among the most professional and experienced in the world. I'm not aware of their schedules and assignments, but try contact Kind regards Michael Kirkedal (Mike) Protection Specialist kirkedal@post3.tele.dk Tel.: (+45) 22 88 91 21 Tim: Having faced this before here is the advice I have given front office staff; Do not discuss anything that you do not want host government to know. You are in and on their turf and are being watched and listened to. This is a given. I did a TSCM where the host country had complete control of the facility. I changed usual procedure and did a "monitor" out in the open during the entire proceeding. The evening of the first day was interesting as reported by our security guards. The entire complex was evacuated because of a fire/bomb threat (not further defined) and "firemen" were seen crawling under the building used by my corporation and possibly removing something. I'd like to think that my change in procedure might have caused this and allowed us to be a little more competitive in our business meetings. We did work in PRC as well but no TSCM equipment was brought in. Only physical exams were accomplished and evidence of phone tampering in hotels was seen. Ian Tim, I don't know why but I didn't get the original on this. Someone may have been asking about TSCM's in Beijing...so this may be old hat. But I lived in Beijing for a year and was in charge of Pinkerton's ops in China...when I lived there my apartment was bugged with both audio and some video. Pretty standard for an expat that was "suspicious" (me supposedly). Additionally, the PRC government absolutely refused to allow anyone to do TSCM in China when I was there. Kroll, Hill and Associates and Pinkerton all had their personnel arrested and all their equipment confiscated. I tried to get it back but to no avail and was called in by the government and accused of spying if we tried to use TSCM equipment. They showed me copies of the relevant statutes in English and told us that if we operated it there we would be charged with espionage. The US government was not able to assist us and "bailed" on us. In fact, when our equipment was confiscated, the US government (to whom we turned for help) actually considered filing charges against our company for illegal transfer of technology because the PRC confiscated our equipment. Bottom line...we found bugs in China...in both offices and residences. The PRC government is heavily into electronic eavesdropping. However, doing anything in the TSCM mode is fraught with danger and risk...such as being imprisoned for life for espionage. My recommendation for companies operating anywhere in the PRC is: your people, your phones, your offices will be bugged. Don't bring anything or say anything that you cannot afford to have compromised and given to Chinese competitors. Bruce From: "Mayer Nudell, CSC" Mayer.Nudell@speconsult.com X-Accept-Language: en-us, en To: dbugman@dbugman.com Subject: The Chinese bubble is about to pop Tim, This is an example of the type of open source info that company interested in China should be aware of. Regards, Mayer A SENSE OF ASIA The Chinese bubble is about to pop By Sol Sanders SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM April 15, 2004 All signs point to an approaching Chinese economic crisis. Given the lack of transparency, the impact of the coming "landing" is even less predictable than such economic developments elsewhere. There are daily announcements by Communist leadership aimed at cooling an overheated economy. But most are fictitious, a cover for bottlenecks in some sectors, unrestrained speculation in others. So any divination is just that. There is no denying the remarkable last decade's progress. GDP growth figures are probably exaggerated. The truth is nobody really knows. [One cannot forget an angry ex-Prime Minister Zhu Rongzi publicly dressing down regional officials for giving him manufactured figures.] Given the fact that 80 percent of China's more than one billion do not share in success of the effort to introduce a liberal economy in a totalitarian state, we have little history to judge the whole experiment. But here is intelligent Shanghai gossip: Despite all restrictions, held in place by occasional draconian prosecution [executions], for corruption, illegal "hot money" has poured in. Theoretically Beijing has control of its currency. In fact, in 1997, Zhu, with controls and by juggling export subsidies, spared China the effects of the East Asia Financial Crisis. But that was eons ago in Chinese economic development. Once again, the Chinese have proved their phenomenal entrepreneurial talent. The central bank's hard currency reserves are now reaching an incredible trillion dollars. That, in turn, introduces inflation with the exchange of imported dollars for renminbao. Speculators believe, despite all government statements [and the hard line Chinese leaders took with Vice President Cheney this week on American demands for reevaluation], upward movement will come. They want a slice - when they trade back into dollars. China is suddenly facing an overall trade deficit - nearly $9 billion in the first quarter and likely to grow exponentially. That is despite its enormous U.S. trade surplus. - probably as much as $142 billion last year, and probably growing even more rapidly as U.S. consumer confidence sucks in more consumer goods. The overall trade deficit, likely to snowball so long as China's export boom continues, results from a growing import bill for raw materials [and components for assemblies China exports]. Ironically, China itself pushes world prices. China has become the world's second largest oil importer [after the U.S.] with prices rising. [China's oil imports increased 38 percent last year; predictions were for a fuel imports doubling this year.] China's pull has inflated world prices - for example, benchmark hot-rolled-sheet price jumped 80 percent to $500 a net ton, a 15-year high. All this has pressured China's claptrap financial system. Despite repeated statements by the authorities to brake lending, China's four main banks probably have increased it by 10 percent just this year. That's despite signs some sectors are piling up inventories - Shanghai and Beijing real estate, household appliances, automobiles. Again nobody knows, but non-performing loans may be 50 percent or higher. And, again despite repeated statements, banking practices have not changed. One important reason: China's huge, Soviet days white elephants, so-called state-owned enterprises [SOEs], are bleeding the banks with their enormous political influence and the fear of additional unemployment were their bankruptcy finally faced. [Recently, Prime Minister Wen Jiatao trotted out the argument their maintenance in the Northeast rustbelt was a matter of national security.] One danger, of course, is of a run on savings institutions by China's incredibly frugal savers when a switch back to dollars after a postponed reevaluation. China's economic fragility is not just a problem for Beijing. As the Chinese maw has grown, it has become a growing market for its neighbors. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia have seen their exports to China - including manufactures - grow by as much as 50 percent. Japan is coming out of its decade of stagnation, in part because of the fillip Chinese exports have given its still only partially reformed export-led economy. South Korea, caught in political and economic crosscurrents, counts on its "China boom" for its high tech exports to buoy it until domestic demand returns. Even the U.S., however much it might complain over the loss of jobs to China, continues to have a lower inflation rate in part because Beijing [as well as Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong] gobble up its treasury notes, halting any "crowding out" of private sector borrowing in capital markets. Beijing's new leadership, noted for its non-risk-taking past, is caught in the headlights. It dare not fiddle with the currency tied to the dollar, its only stable economic tool. On the other hand, even if no one else does, Chinese Communists remember their rise to power owed as much if not more to runaway inflation in the last years of the Chiang Kaishek regime as to battlefield victories. [The Chinese "inflationphobia" is as great as the Germans who remember the 20s inflation that brought Hitler.] An hour of decision is approaching rapidly. |