by Hock G Tjoa
The People’s Army grudgingly sent a representative and continued to show its displeasure at having to share the responsibility for intelligence matters with other departments by changing the representative every year or two. Currently, its delegate was Brigadier Deng, a handsome man in his forties, who spoke often at the meetings, despite being its most junior member in bureaucratic terms. The Spymaster, who had close friends in the army hierarchy, including General Chen, was convinced that the army’s attitude and actions only weakened its influence in the committee.
Nearly two decades previously, the mandate of the intelligence agency had been extended to include foreign operations to match the Committee’s interests which expanded at that time to include the Ministry of Finance. China had determined to open itself to the world economy, gradually and in its own fashion, but irrevocably. Its safety was thus vulnerable to global activities. Chinese leaders took steps to be proactive on threats that might originate anywhere beyond Central and East Asia.
When it was the Spymaster’s turn to speak, he reported, “In addition to the ongoing threats and counter-measures previously reported, we acquired evidence of a potential arms deal involving a nuclear device brokered by a North Korean on whom we keep routine surveillance. This prompted us to search more intensively, and we’ve discovered five other potential transactions. We are now able to identify the potential buyers. One of the deals involves a group that has ties with Al-Qaeda. In two other instances, there are Taliban connections. But in every one of those six cases identified, the ultimate buyers are the Pashtuns.
“Two weeks ago, we received intelligence that corroborates this and allows us to tie the threads together. Our conclusion is that the Pashtuns are getting ready to demand from Afghanistan and Pakistan the right to form their own nation-state. The nuclear device is intended to serve as the unifying factor and to show Afghanistan and Pakistan the seriousness of the Pashtun demand to carve out a new nation.”
“How does that serve to unify them?” Huang asked. His views on the inability of non-Han peoples to unify were reflected in his ready dismissal of any report of Pashtun rebellion. He’d had similar views on the Tunisians, the Egyptians, and the Libyans, and did not seem to learn from history.
“But they have united before, when they thwarted the British Empire with its troops from India, when they fought the Soviet Union to a standstill—”
This history lesson by Brigadier Deng, the representative from the army, was interrupted by Huang. “They had plenty of help at those times.”
“The poor of the earth will always find friends,” remarked Assistant Minister Zhang, the representative from the Finance Ministry. The Spymaster was pleasantly surprised to find that the newcomer to the Committee might have views along the same lines as his. I must find an excuse to meet Zhang for more conversation.
The army man spoke again. “Both the British and the Soviets gave them sufficient provocation. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, those two great powers acted out their imperialistic ambitions on this miserable stage. The development of the Afghan nation could have led to a progressive state otherwise, like Turkey.”
“This committee cannot change history,” said Cai with a tight smile. “We can only do our best to protect the interest of our country.”
“Who are our enemies in this case?” asked Deng. “How do they threaten us?”
“The actors in this drama may not realize that their actions threaten us, so it is inaccurate to call them our enemies,” replied Wang. “The Pashtuns probably have no inkling of how their actions might affect China. They have reasons enough to unite, and only pride in family and clan matters managed to keep them apart.”
The Spymaster spoke in a matter of fact tone and continued, “They are hospitable to a fault, but unforgiving when they feel an injury has been done. A nuclear device—most likely to be a tactical weapon equivalent to a suitcase bomb—would appeal to their pride, and this pride would, we believe, together with the external provocation, promote their unification.”
“If they pose a danger to us, we should fight them!” declared the Brigadier.
“China is not ready to go to war with every nation whose actions might threaten us,” said the chairman of the committee. “Our enemies are those who have consciously and purposely declared war on us, not those whose actions might set off events we find unsettling.”
“Can we intercept the transfer of the nuclear device?” Police Commissioner Wen asked.
“That will be our primary and immediate objective. But of the six different arms dealers that have been to Afghanistan or Pakistan in the past month, we may be able to prevent the development or fulfillment of deals in only one or two arenas.”
“Don’t we have assets in Pakistan and Kazakhstan?” Huang asked as he returned to the discussion.
“Yes, in Pakistan, but they are new and untested. In Kazakhstan, our relations are governed by the delicate status of the Shanghai Cooperation Commission, which is only about ten years old and managed by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These are areas where we will not undertake to intercept such an arms deal even though the confirmation of the Pashtun goal did come from a recently recruited asset in Pakistan. We must involve other nations.”
“How do you intend to get the Russians or the Americans to help us?” The army representative, Deng, blurted out his disbelief. The lips of every man in the room turned downward.
“The stakes are high,” declared Wang. “Russia and the United States will do what they can to prevent the sale and transfer of the device. They will not do this for China. They will do it for themselves.”
“What if the Pashtuns have an alternative plan?” Police Commissioner Wen asked.
“Ah, there are two questions there,” said the Spymaster. “Do the Pashtuns have an alternative plan for unification? And do they have an alternative plan for the acquisition of the nuclear device? We do not know the answer to the first question and defer to our colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this matter. Our information regarding the intentions and activities of the Pashtuns is secondhand. The answer to the second question seems to lie in the many arms dealers involved. They represent many strings to a bow.”
“To return to an earlier thought, Spymaster, what threatens China?” Cai asked.
Wang paused for a moment to give emphasis to what he was about to say. “In the first place, nuclear weapons are nasty, and the fact that one more party, untested and perhaps unready, will possess such a device threatens China. Secondly, if the Pashtuns succeed in getting the Afghan and Pakistani governments to renegotiate the old Durand line, agreed to early in the nineteenth century between the British and an Amir from Afghanistan, this will surely initiate an intense scramble for power and influence in Central Asia.
“Iran, India, China and our friends in the Shanghai Cooperation Commission will be forced to join the scramble and other world powers will not be far behind. This may, indeed, happen even without the Pashtuns gaining an atomic device.” Everyone sat up straight on hearing this. The spymaster kept his voice level and continued,
“Thirdly, this unification and irredentism will surely create sparks among dissident groups in Central Asia and our own minority communities.”
“Much of this lies beyond the mandate of this Committee,” said Cai. “But perhaps we should think about the most immediate threat.”
“Yes, my agency has prepared several plans,” Wang replied.
“What are you going to do?” The representative from the army asked this question just as his face reddened and he nodded to acknowledge his error. Both Politburo representatives looked at him intently.
Wang groaned but said carefully and without rancor, “What any of us here will do falls under the category of operations, and that has its own reporting channels. Following up on the Kazakh arms dealer, for instance, will be managed by the MFA. But I will say that part of what we plan to do will take us outside China, and my agency appreciates any hel
p it can get with these efforts.”
“We can supply most, if not all, of the cover and support you need if you wish to go overseas.” Wang was a little surprised to find that it was Zhang from the Finance Ministry who spoke again. He had intended to use this question as his approach to getting to know the man better. He nodded his acknowledgment of the offer. There was no question of involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as its need to be uninvolved in any “covert operations” was paramount in diplomacy.
“What about the answer to the first question?” Cai asked.
“The Pashtuns will keep trying as long as they have sufficient provocation. It is hard to stop a river in the mountains from flowing downstream.” The army representative said this without the attitude of disdain he had previously displayed. He is an honest man and not at all stupid, thought Wang, even though he is somewhat clumsy.
“My agency has given this some thought, though not as much as the Foreign Ministry.” Wang nodded to Lin, the representative from that ministry. Lin maintained his silence.
“We are prepared to table a paper on this matter by the next meeting, and I can ask Analyst Tang to attend to answer questions. She has appeared before this committee in the past.” Wang gestured at the folders in front of each member.
He continued, “We have distributed a brief summary of our analysis. The Pashtuns have never accepted the borders drawn up by the British colonial government. Afghanistan voted against the proposed partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. It was not opposed to the partition itself or to the independence of India and Pakistan, but it rejected the Durand line, the border drawn between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Whether this constitutes sufficient provocation, as our colleague from the army has put it, is difficult to say.”
“The Foreign Ministry believes that national borders should not be put on the table for any reason. It calls into question the territorial integrity of every state.” At last, Lin spoke up. The Spymaster was disappointed that he had chosen simply to express conventional thought on the subject as he had unfailingly done in all the years Wang had observed him. Here was a man either without imagination or on a tight leash.
“Our colleague is correct,” said Cai, the chairman, as delicately and surgically as he analyzed the “contradictions” that the Politburo occasionally confronted in communist ideology. “It was only with much strife and great bloodshed that Bosnia, Croatia, and South Sudan have found their separate destinies. Some in the west might compare this to what they call ‘creative destruction.’”
“We may not have a choice in this matter as the Pashtuns may take whatever action they can agree upon. But my agency is not competent to judge between the doctrines of self-determination and territorial integrity,” Wang added dryly. “We can only say that should the Pashtuns determine to create their own state from parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, other countries, including China, will be drawn into the process.”
“I do not believe that it is in our interest or within our capacity to prevent such a development,” said Deng. “We do, however, have obligations to help our allies.” Everyone nodded.
“That puts us in the middle of a contradiction,” said Cai with a look of mock severity. His mastery of Communist ideology was so thorough that his analyses and conclusions occasionally appeared to his fellow Politburo members to be tinged with skepticism, if not cynicism. “We look forward to your paper, Spymaster Wang.”
Two other speakers made their presentations, and then the chairman adjourned the meeting. Wang approached the man from the Finance Ministry.
“Do you have a moment?”
“I must return to the ministry as soon as I can today, but we can ride there together if you don’t mind. Let’s take your car. I assume it will be more secure. Mine will follow us.”
Wang allowed himself a quick smile as they left. A man who thinks of more than one thing at a time—I can work with him.
As the car proceeded, the Spymaster explained his need to make overtures overseas, and the two men quickly addressed the possible cover for such a trip.
“My ministry has near-term plans for high-level visits to Dubai, London, and Washington; we could easily add to this, say, Moscow, Istanbul, or Cairo, anywhere you like.”
After a thoughtful pause, Wang said, “I used to find the occasion to meet, every two or three years, with my counterpart in England. It might be a good time to call on his successor.”
“We are scheduled to visit next week. The Foreign Ministry should be involved.”
“I will contact our liaison for the MFA. They will coordinate my agency’s visit with your ministry. I wonder how their representative at the meeting will report the Pashtun assertion of their right to self-determination.” The Spymaster hesitated only for a fraction of a second before continuing, “Or whether the Standing Committee will discuss the example that will be set for our Uyghur and Tibetan citizens.”
“It is so much easier to keep our heads buried in the sand, and so much costlier in the end,” grumbled the Assistant Minister. “I know you are called Wang. We have not been properly introduced. My name is Zhang. I have now been at the Finance Ministry for nearly ten years. Before that, I served a little over twelve years in local government in Xinjiang and Fujian provinces. This is my first meeting on this committee. I hope we will speak again; perhaps on the flight back from London. For now, you should let me off at the next spot that attracts the least attention.”
Wang gave his driver an order and the car pulled into the next underground parking lot. Assistant Minister Zhang got out and had to wait only a few seconds for his own car to pull up. The Spymaster waved him on. He waited twenty minutes before ordering his driver to head for his own office. On the ride back to his office, Wang prepared for his meeting with Sergeant Major Li. His thoughts wandered to his “quarrel” with Comrade Commissar Jiang, who had been responsible for compromising the loyalty of Wang’s former sparring partner.
Jiang was not a member of the Committee on Public Safety but was regularly informed of its workings as he sat in the Central Committee of the Party and was, in fact, widely expected to be promoted within the year to the Politburo. Wang had met the Comrade Commissar five years previously as he continued his efforts to recruit from the ethnic minorities of China. Jiang, a man of medium build, sallow complexion, and great energy, was then the coordinator of agricultural and industrial development of the provinces in the west and northwest where the Tibetans and the Uyghurs were present in large numbers. He was about ten years older than Wang.
In one of several meetings about recruiting agents among minorities like the Uyghurs and Tibetans, Wang had said in frustration that he wished he had a deputy for this effort. A week later, he received an application for that position from a man named Kong with a recommendation from Comrade Jiang.
Kong was then a senior inspector in the police force. Wang had Kong investigated and interviewed the man, even though there was no official vacancy to be filled. Wang concluded that he had spoken rashly about his need for a deputy and that Kong was not suitable.
“Why not, Spymaster?” Tang and Hu asked when told by Wang of his decision not to appoint Kong as his deputy. The two of them had not made a clear recommendation, but the Spymaster had read between the lines of the reports of their interviews with him.
“I think I have been hasty in speaking of this matter and should have given it more thought. I believe the need is not yet so pressing.”
Wang had also formed the opinion that Kong seemed too eager to please, too ready with a smile that appeared false, artificial, like that of a man with something, perhaps a secret, perhaps a weakness, to hide.
Jiang’s reaction to this decision struck Wang as disproportionate to the event. He was furious and had made his venomous displeasure known in many circles. He was highly regarded within the Party for his work on the economic development of the western provinces. But Wang himself was too well-established and highly regarded by the Party to be affected by Jiang’s n
egative campaign, even as this intensified and Kong was passed over for promotion within the ranks of the police force. It appeared that Jiang blamed the Spymaster.
Wang was relieved to learn that in the previous month Kong had been finally promoted to the position of Superintendent of Police in Shanghai. He continued to marvel at Jiang’s response; it was incomprehensible. At the time, he initiated a half-hearted attempt to investigate any connection between the Commissar and the Senior Police Inspector but gave up on it to attend to the demands of “real work.” He made a mental note then to resume the investigation in view of the Comrade Commissar’s pending promotion within the Party.
That time is now.
7: THE SOLDIER RETURNS
(Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan)
Just 100 kilometers away from the town in the foothills to which Ali the Spy had traveled, Najmudin the Soldier found his brother. They talked about what had happened to each other since they last met, reminisced about their mother, and spoke of their uncle.
“Najo,” his brother confided in him with a smile. “You will be an uncle again soon. I hope this time it will be a boy.”
“Ah, that would be good—more males in our family to safeguard the honor of our sisters and cousins. I shall come back to visit next year or the year after, God willing.”
“God willing. It will be a great joy. We will feast on goat meat! You must take care of yourself until then.”
Najmudin never spoke of the exploits of his band in the mountains, and his brother never asked. They spoke instead of Najmudin and Ali hiking together just the previous week.
“I learned why the Shopkeeper’s nephew went to live in the city.”