ACCUSED SPY FOR CHINA MADE DOUBLE-AGENT OFFER TO AGENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320085-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 85
• Publication Date: January 1, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320085-2
ARTICLE APPE.....i
ON PAGE 122
WASHINGTON TIMES
7 January 1986
Accused spy for China made
double-agent offer to agents
T9X2T.,93ertzTimEs
Larry Wu-Thi Chin, the former
CIA translator charged with spying
for China over three decades, of-
fered to work as a double agent for
the United States shortly before his
arrest Nov. 22, according to court
papers filed yesterday.
Mr. Chin pleaded not guilty to an
indictment Nov. 26 charging him
with 15 counts of espionage for al-
legedly supplying CIA secrets to the
communist nation since 1952. His
trial is set to begin Jan. 22.
Before he retired from the CIA's
Foreign Broadcast Information
Service in 1981, Mr. Chin worked as
a translator and handled top secret
CIA reports that were circulated
throughout the U.S. intelligence
community, according to federal
sources.
The court papers also indicate
that information presented to Mr.
Chin during an FBI interview was so
detailed that Mr. Chin believed that
his case officer, a Chinese intelli-
gence officer named Ou Quiming,
had defected.
"After hearing the detailed
account of several trips, Chin was
confronted with the fact that he
could not bluff his way out ? that the
details were such, and apparently so
accurate, that Chin believed his Chi-
nese handler must have defected,"
the court papers state.
Details provided by the U.S. Attor-
ney's office for the Eastern District
of Virginia were filed yesterday in
response to Mr. Chin's motion to sup-
press statements made to FBI
agents shortly before his arrest.
Defense attorney's argued that
the statements made by Mr. Chin
were made before he had been read
his rights.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph J.
Aronica replied that Mr. Chin had
not been placed under arrest when
he had agreed to cooperate with the
FBI in revealing details of his spying
activities.
Mr. Chin at first denied knowing
anything about alleged contacts
with several intelligence officers
from the People's Republic of China
until FBI agents told him about
meetings that took place in Peking,
Hong Kong and Ibronto, including a
1983 meeting in Peking between Mr.
Chin and a man identified by the FBI
Mr Chin at first
denied knowing
anything about
alleged contacts with
several intelligence
officers from the
People's Republic of
China.
as a Chinese intelligence officer Zhu
Entao.
The agents also told Mr. Chin
about a meeting he held with Mr. Ou
in Hong Kong and Macao in June
1983, and he replied that he "told the
agents they had a great deal of infor-
mation," the court papers state.
"He then asked [the FBI agents]
whether, if he talked, other people
would know about the case," and was
told it was a possibility fewer people
would be contacted if Mr. Chin coop-
erated.
When Mr. Chin questioned
whether the FBI agents were
bluffing, the agents told Mr. Chin
they knew he had traveled to Hong
Kong in September 1983 to meet Mr
Ou. They stated that they knew he
"gave On the identity of a FBIS em-
ployee and provided a scenario
which he thought should be followed
in order to recruit the employee as
an agent" for the People's Republic
of China's intelligence service, ac-
cording to court papers.
"You have details that only Ou
knew:' Mr. Chin was quoted as say-
ing. "[Mr. Chin] indicated that only
On could have known the details [of
Mr. Ou's marital problems] and
speculated that Ou had defected:'
the court papers state.
At this point in the FBI investiga-
tion, "...Chin offered to work for the
U.S. government, go back to China
and meet his contactor the court pa-
pers state. "The agents understood
that to be an offer to work as a double
agent for the United States."
Mr. Chin declined to sign an FBI
statement and six hours after he re-
vealed details of his spying activi-
ties, several other agents appeared
at the door of Mr. Chin's Alexandria
office and arrested him.
He was charged with supplying
secrets to China since 1952, when he
allegedly passed information on Chi-
nese prisoners of war in Korea. He
also was charged with passing top
secret CIA information to China be-
tween 1976 and 1981 in exchange for
an estimated $140,000.
The court papers state that during
the FBI interview, Mr. Chin was "ex-
ceptionally cool and calm about how
he had done everything and stated
that if he had to go to jail it would be
good because he could catch up on
his reading and write his memoirs."
anri Annroved For Release 2012/10/04 CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320085-2