PEKING HAS SPY BASE IN MEXICO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000400130001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 9, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

3TAT ? /VA cf4INCZTAIr
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for.Release_S 50-Yr 2013/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00475R000400130001-9
. JUL 91964
'N w
e s? Bureau'
n.
g
!7r. ?
s
Fin
By HAL HENDR
Observers believe the Mexiai
Scripps-Howard Staff Wr .
IX
f -MEXICO CITY, July 9 ? some of the work formerly
iter : ? City NCNA office will take up
?:Communist China has estab- i handled by nine agents as-
,
lished an operation Intelligence signed to Brazil.
?. base here in a fashionable resi- The Brazilian operation, also
; dential area. under the cover of the NCNA,
was smashed by the April 1
It functions under the cover,
;.
anti-communist revolution. The of the New China News Agency,
'r which Peking describes as the agents still are in jail. .
"eyes, ears and mouth" of the I. The five Chinese agents here
Chinese Communist Party and thr?e other associates
from Peking who are members
; The local NCNA "news bu-
of a so-called trade mission
! reau" is staffed by five Chi-
have a two-year lease on a
nese, all known to be well-
large resident-6 at 219 Arqui-
i trained Intelligence agents, not
? trict. They have converted the
foi:eign correspondents., ? medes-st in the POlanco dis? -
OFFICERS house into n offic '
Three are military officers? ? - - - -
; Capt. Wu Chu; Lt. Than Chih- The trade representatives-are
VChi and Lt. Ch'eng Pien. They leftovers from a larger group .
are not in uniform, that was here last December
In free world nations where to stage an industrial-trade ex- '
?
the NCNA operates, only the
"bureau" in Paris has a larger
;- staff than in one here?an in-
dication of the importance Pe-
,
king attaches to this -Latin-
.American foothold. .
The NCNA here maintains
close liaison with its counter-
part in Cuba, as well as the
Red Chinese .embassy in Ha-
vana. Staffers are? frequently. ,
seen at the- airport meeting '
with associates, traveling to'
?
and from Havana. The Havana
-NCNA office how has a 'staff
position, their first in the West--
emn Hemisphere. .
The three trade-seekers, like.
the NCNA agents, shy from]
publicity and do little socializ-
ing . They want it to appear
that the whole trade delegation,'
left with the exposition.
- BORDER
About 8500 Chinese live In
Mexico, some 2000 berg. Most
have settled in Baja California.'.
near the United States border
?a matter of concern to U.S.',
authorities because of possible
I. of 13. : ??.' ? ,?. ? ? 4..illegal entries.
?
ase,
0
. Among the Chin-6.4)ii-Melleo
City an. estimated ..20.0. are. pre-
? Peking in ideology. But many
of the pro-Western Chinese still
have relatives in Red China
and are subject to pressures
from Peking agents.
The NCNA staffers also mix
with Mexican leaders of an
organization called the Mexican
Society for 'Friendship with
Popular China, the front for the
Chinese Communist Party here.
President of the society is a
chubby 65-year-old Mexican
--woman named Ester Chapa,
who- has ?traveled to both *Pe-
king and *Moscow. ?,
In 1963, the Chinese
nists bought $2.4 million worth
of -cotton and $18.3 million of
wheat and. flour from 'Mexico.
Purchases of Mexican cotton'
for 1964, be'aLII._ing 'this. mont
will total $4.8 million?double -?
that of last year. Mexico also,,
sells beans, fruits and fibers to:
? .
The Chinese are paying with ;
U. S. dollars._ ? ,1
, When asked about this-trade. 1
Mexican officials argue that
since the U. S. sells wheat and,
..other.._commodities to commu-
nist nations, why shouldn't
Mexico deal with whomever it
wishes.
Nationalist China Arnbassa.
dor Ho Feng-shan and other
Western diplomats here . fear
the NCNA activities and the '
? trading- programs are merely
'the prelude to l'sy1exice'8 recog-1
-talon of-Red China
? with its;?"independenr foreigri;
IKIlietati,-Fat
?
neclassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000400130001-9 ,