Wikileaks Cable Says Chinese Minister’s Mistress Was Taiwan Spy

From Wikileaks’ massive collection of U.S. diplomatic cables, comes a very juicy piece of news that former Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing’s mistress at the time is thought to have been a spy for Taiwan.

Jin resigned back in 2007 for personal reasons, but there many believed at the time that a sex scandal was the real reason. According to the Wikileaks cable, in addition to former SINOPEC Chairman Chen Tonghai the “promiscuous socialite had also been having affairs with several other high-level officials, including Sichuan Party Secretary and former Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin.”

The woman is unidentified in the cable, but it is thought it could be Li Wei, who was profiled in Caijing magazine back in February. Li was quoted in the Chinese media as saying “You cannot invest all your resources and opportunities into one person, you have to construct a huge relationship net, like an umbrella.” Li was arrested for tax evasion but was released without trial in 2010.

Check out the video from New York-based NTDTV from back in February which tells Li’s story, also referring to the relationship between Li and the ex-finance minister, citing the Caijing piece. As for the her being a spy, the Wikileaks cable seems to be the sole indication of that.

So far Wikileaks’ diplomatic cables relating to China have been fairly unremarkable. But this particular cable, if it proves to be true, would certainly be a big one. If it could ever get by the censors, this would make for a brilliant movie!

The emergence of Wikileaks and ‘hacktivists’ have drastically impacted the online climate in which corporations and governments now have to operate. Most Asian nations now have ample cause to be on perpetual alert, as we’ve recently seen incidents in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. China has gone so far as to prepare an online defense force called the Cyber Blue Team supposedly to safeguard against such attacks.

[Source: Sacramento Bee, photo from China.com.cn]