Wiretapping Devices in President Jiang Zemin`s Airplane Might Have Been Implanted by Someone in Inner Circle

The fire of controversy from the bugs hidden in the Presidential airplane of China`s President Jiang Zemin is spreading through the Chinese political circle. When 27 wiretapping devices were found in the Presidential airplane imported from the U.S. in September of last year, it seemed to create a diplomatic conflict between the two nations at first, but the theory of power struggle instead of the U.S. conspiracy is becoming more persuasive.

The U.S. paper Washington Times recently quoted a secret report of the U.S. State Department that the person who hid the bugs in the Presidential airplane might be Li Peng, Chairperson of National People`s Congress, supporting the explanation that the wiretapping was carried out in the midst of a severe power struggle among the Chinese leaders.

The first son and wife of Chairperson Li have been criticized for suspicions that they had made National Electricity Corporation a family business, and his second son was also struggling with a fraud case. Chairperson Li has been repeatedly mentioned in connectin with the corruption case of the Sansha Dam construction. The Washington Post reports that chairperson Li installed the bugs to find out how President Jiang is going to deal with incidents related to his family.

If the report turns out to be true, Chinese politics will be greatly shaken. Chinese politics, known as the `Jiang-Li system` has kept its check and balance. If chairperson Li`s political power shrinks, the conflict between the two groups may surface, igniting power struggles among political powers.

In such a case, chairperson Li may reject the power transfer of the political leaders scheduled this fall, since his withdrawal could end up with the punishment of his family in relation to the corruption cases.

Sources from Beijing also raise the possibility that the political sects that want to destabilize Li`s side are spreading the Li conspiracy.

ljhzip@donga.com