by Nick Elliott
We walked on stopping again on a red ornamental bridge over a small lake with koi carp swimming beneath us.
‘I never met Ronnie but I could tell you liked him.’
‘Yes, I grew to like him. He had this connection with my father too which gave us a kind of bond I guess.’
‘You can’t let it get to you, Angus. These things can happen in our business. You know that.’
‘Sure.’
‘You think it was Dark Ocean did it?’
‘It seems likely. I wasn’t aware he had any other enemies. He was pretty much retired.
‘You know, Clinton and Putin have both walked through these gardens when they stayed here,’ I added to change the subject. She was right, I had liked Ronnie.
‘Not together hand-in-hand I imagine,’ she said grabbing my hand.
‘No, probably not. But I presume the management can accommodate a small meeting of spies without too much trouble.’
‘That’s all been taken care of,’ she said. ‘We’re starting at eight tomorrow morning.’
We met in a large conference room. As it turned out the Public Security Intelligence Agency had fielded four of their own officers to match ours. After introductions and an appropriate, if awkward for the gaijins, bowing session, we all sat down.
I sensed awkwardness among the Japanese too. Japan was still close to bottom in the gender equality rankings and I could tell these guys were not used to dealing with women at this level. Amber Dove and Claire Scott both outranked Ben Wood and myself and once this became obvious I could sense an unease, though not hostility, and there was an obvious curiosity too.
Green tea was served by a hotel employee. After the woman’s departure Amber asked if the room was clean. After some confusion as to what she meant she was reassured it was and the meeting began; and by prior agreement she then presented the IMTF’s findings ahead of the PSIA’s.
‘As already reported,’ she began, ‘a clear link has now been established between the Geneva-based organisation known as the Foundation for Oriental and Asian Studies, which henceforth I shall refer to as FOAS, and Genyosha, which, if I may, I shall refer to as Dark Ocean. Our evidence for this connection is based firstly on the findings of the IMTF’s Rear Admiral Alastair Marshall who we believe was murdered by one or other of these organisations to prevent him delving into their activities further; and secondly, corroborated by Ms Zoe Papadopoulos, our Mr McKinnon’s assistant in Greece, who obtained a passenger list from the vessel, Toyama Maru, listing Messrs Hachiro Takahashi, Hachiro Nakamura, both proven members of Dark Ocean, and four Europeans, all members of FOAS according to Marshall’s own investigations. We are calling this body of evidence the Marshall Dossier and it forms one of the principal cornerstones of the case. I should add that Ms Papadopoulos has been abducted and is held by Dark Ocean and it must be a top priority for all of us around this table to secure her earliest possible release.’ She looked around, eyeballing each of us in turn and drawing earnest murmurs of agreement.
‘Alastair Marshall had, prior to his death, also discovered a confidential, unpublished economic feasibility study on how a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, albeit considerably modified from the original premise, could yet be achieved. This also forms part of the Dossier.’
At this point there was some fidgeting from the Japanese side of the table.
‘We appreciate, gentlemen,’ Amber continued showing commendable diplomacy, ‘that this makes for uncomfortable listening, but have no doubt that the presence of an organisation such as FOAS in the midst of democratic Europe is no easier for our own intelligence community to contemplate either. Whilst we might ask why you, as your nation’s principal intelligence service, have let such activities go unnoticed, we would also have to ask the very same question of ourselves with regard to FOAS.
‘This cabal’s strategy, based upon Takahashi’s study, is to gain control of the major shipping and trade routes of the Asia Pacific region, which is taken to comprise China including Hong Kong and Taiwan, both Koreas, the countries of Southeast Asia including Singapore, and eventually both Australasia and the Indian subcontinent.
‘You might well ask how such a daring, not to say outrageous plan could be executed. The cabal believes that the shipowners, the charterers, by which I mean those exporters and traders of goods and raw materials who charter tonnage to carry their produce to market, and the privately owned ports and terminals of the region responsible for handling its imports and exports, are vulnerable to hostile takeover. Given sufficient financial resources, I mean a war chest worth many billions of dollars, controlling shares and voting rights in these commercial maritime entities can be acquired, seats on boards taken and domination of their strategic and operational activities thereby accomplished.
‘Any remaining shipowners, charterers and ports such as state-owned entities, would in time be progressively weakened by the cabal’s stranglehold over this huge region’s trade. I don’t need to remind you that some five trillion dollars’ worth of maritime trade passes through the South China Sea every year.
‘Furthermore, it is our fear that the cabal is already well on its way to acquiring the billions it would need. The attempt to seize whatever valuables might be salvaged from the wreck of the British cargo vessel, the Lady Monteith, which Mr McKinnon here is attempting to thwart, is only the tip of the iceberg. Other such recoveries have already been made over a period of years, in the Philippines and from shipwrecks in and around the South China Sea.
‘Now Mr McKinnon here has uncovered further evidence of Dark Ocean’s past activities, and of another dimension to the case which will have a strong bearing on how we handle things going forward. Angus, would you elaborate please?’
I gave them an account of my father’s investigations into the attempted money laundering of gold looted by the Japanese in the war, of my meeting with Tim Younger, and an account of Nya Wang’s quest to reclaim the golden Buddha and return it to his monastery.
‘I would add,’ continued Amber, ‘what must be obvious to us all, and that is the immense geopolitical destabilisation such events would most certainly cause. Particularly, given China’s own ambitions to secure hegemony in the South China Sea and the tensions such behaviour is already creating across the region, the escalation of such tensions would represent a profound threat to regional, not to say global peace and security.
‘As we all know, in addition to building artificial islands, China has also constructed military outposts in the region to assert its dominance, even though their claims to the region were discredited in a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and despite the deployment of US and other nations’ naval assets aimed at deterring China’s illegitimate territorial claims.
‘And may I quote from a speech given by a prominent US Navy admiral. He said: “We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea. We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must.” That statement was made prior to the Trump presidency I might add. Furthermore, I see the Pentagon has just sent a destroyer on another “freedom of navigation” operation within 12 nautical miles of Triton in the Paracels just a few weeks after the last one. The Chinese are calling it a serious political and military provocation.’
‘And you are aware from our earlier briefing on this matter,’ Ben Wood interjected, ‘that none of the intelligence we are sharing with you today has been communicated to our American cousins for reasons we are all well aware of.’ He was referring to a recent loss of confidence that had emerged, within the SIS particularly, towards its American counterparts.
‘He’s right,’ said Amber Dove, ‘It’s a situation we very much hope is of a temporary nature. But you can see, we already have a cold war on our hands in this region with the Chinese escalating their expansionist plans, and this Dark Ocean/FOAS conspiracy can only serve to exacerbate matters ten-fold.
‘
So, at this point do you have any questions?’
‘At this point, no,’ replied Ishikawa.
‘Very well. Now, returning to Takahashi’s paper, this has been analysed by our own economists. They assure us that it is well postulated and, in theory at least, feasible.’
She pulled bound copies of the paper from her briefcase and passed them around the table. ‘Here is the paper in both Japanese and English. You will see in Addendum 7 a list of those entities which have been targeted for hostile takeover.
‘So that, in a nutshell, is what we are facing and I invite you to present your own, the PSIA’s that is, ideas as to how to deal with the situation.’
The Japanese were anxiously leafing through their version of the Takahashi report. I went straight to Addendum 7. It ran to over twenty pages and listed what I could see were all the major shipowners, operators, traders, charterers and privately-owned terminal operators across the region. Banks active in ship finance and a number of leading brokers were in there too.
Something else caught my eye. ‘I see they’ve got a couple of big FPSO operators in their sights,’ I said.
‘Yes, I noticed that,’ Claire added.
Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels are converted supertankers positioned near an offshore oil platform. They process crude oil and store it until it can be transferred to another tanker for onward shipment to a refinery ashore. You wouldn’t want to acquire a fleet of such sophisticated vessels unless you had access to an oilfield in the first place.
‘The Chinese reckon there’s two-hundred billion barrels of oil and up to seven-hundred and fifty trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the South China Sea,’ I said. ‘Be clear, Dark Ocean/FOAS have their eye on that as well as the annual five trillion bucks’ worth of trade.’
That took a little time to sink in. After some whispered conferring with his colleagues, Ishikawa-san spoke: ‘Thank you. This is a very serious matter. Please allow us one hour to discuss. We will meet again after lunch. We have arranged for sandwiches.’ And with that they got up, bowed hastily and left the room.
***
Exactly one hour later Ishikawa returned, alone. This time, gone was the formality, the hesitancy and the polite mannerisms. Instead this was the westernised Ishikawa who, as one of Japan’s leading spooks, had spent years in Washington, Berlin and London and must now have been in the final years of a successful career. I’d heard he’d been a field agent in his earlier days too, working out of Burma and Thailand during the CIA’s secret war in Laos. He took off his jacket and sat down, his manner brusque.
‘I have reached a consensus with my colleagues. They have agreed to allow me to discuss this matter with you directly for the sake of expediency.’
‘That sounds sensible,’ said Amber Dove.
I smiled. I suspected the consensus was a case of Ishikawa telling his colleagues how he was going to handle things rather than discussing it with them at any great length.
‘We follow the activities of Dark Ocean of course,’ he said. ‘But at first our understanding was that they were just one of our many nationalist groups who take to the streets of Tokyo from time to time. Since we heard of their recent emergence we have been building our own dossier on their activities. However, the picture you have painted shows that you have made considerable progress. I confess we find it embarrassing to be told that such things are happening so rapidly under our noses, and on my watch.
‘First though, I will tell you about Hachiro Nakamura.’ Ishikawa looked around the table before continuing. ‘Today, this man is indeed the head of Genyosha. And he has a very disturbing background. His father was murdered by an opposing Yakuza faction when his son was an infant so father had little or no influence over son. But Nakamura’s grandfather was a notorious gangster during the war. He was what we call kuromaku. It means black curtain and refers to someone who directs the actions of others from behind the scenes.’
‘We would say eminence gris or grey eminence,’ said Claire.
‘A power broker,’ Ben Wood added.’
‘Yes, exactly. During the war Nakamura’s grandfather made deals with many gangsters around Asia using coercion, trading opium for gold, and often arranging the elimination of those who crossed him. He did the dirty work for the politicians and the princes back in Tokyo. He was a fanatical ultra-nationalist and after the war he was imprisoned for several years. Shortly after he was released he went to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and in front of many of his followers sympathetic to his beliefs, committed seppuku, or you may know it as hara-kiri, suicide by disembowelment. His grandson was there watching. It must have had a profound effect on the boy. He grew up a gangster and through his grandfather’s connections, joined Genyosha, as it became resurgent. This is what we know.
‘We will now of course work closely with you to put an end to these organisations and their activities. If what you say is true, then I fear their wealth has been accumulated through collaboration with banks, government agencies, politicians and others in high places here in Japan. We have indeed had our suspicions for some time that such allegiances exist.’
Amber spoke. ‘We are pleased to hear this, Ishikawa-san. We are both seeking the same outcome: the complete dismantling, preferably the total removal of both these organisations to put an end to their outlandish plans.
‘Our aim is also, of course, to secure the safe release of Ms Papadopoulos, and indeed the safe return to its home of the Buddha statue. However, our absolute priority must be the destruction of this cabal that threatens the security of the regions’ nations and their peoples.’
‘I agree.’ Ishikawa said. He was a pragmatist. ‘I have already scheduled an appointment with my colleagues in our defence ministry’s intelligence department. When the time is right, I believe military action may be necessary. We will of course liaise closely with yourselves should the need arise.’
‘Yes, of course. Mr Wood will be our liaison with MI6 and other agencies back in Europe. But Ms Scott will be your point of contact in all matters out here, and we in turn will channel any relevant intelligence through her to yourselves. She will base herself in Hong Kong until this matter is resolved, but she will make herself available for meetings with you as when and where necessary.’
‘We are agreed then,’ Ishikawa concluded.
Chapter 25
Claire and I returned to Hong Kong the following day. She felt as responsible for Zoe as I did but the IMTF wanted her on hand as liaison officer for what could be the final phase. And, if it came down to it, I knew Zoe’s safety would be sacrificed in the blink of an eye if the greater good was to be served. I wasn’t happy about this but as Claire reminded me, she was my case officer and not the other way round. What I didn’t want was her dragging around Hong Kong challenging my decisions. For me, Zoe came first.
Claire was going to be ensconced in the British Consulate located in Admiralty district between Central and Wanchai. So they had booked her into the nearby Conrad Hotel.
‘Do IMTF staff usually slum it like you?’ I asked as I saw her into her hotel limousine. My hotel was a quarter of the price she was paying.
She gave me an arch look. ‘You can always come for a sleepover, darling.’
Tempting though it was, I had no intention of becoming further involved in Claire’s romantic plans at this stage. I’d decided to visit Nya Wang and went straight from the airport to Kowloon Tong. The wind was getting up. ‘Number three now. Number eight tomorrow morning,’ said the taxi driver referring to Hong Kong’s system of typhoon signals. ‘Maybe number nine,’ he added for dramatic effect. ‘Very early this year.’
‘Must be climate change,’ I said.
‘Yeah, must be. Climate change everywhere now,’ he said cheerfully. I suppose it gave everyone another excuse to talk about the weather. I stared out of the car window at the profusion of street debris being chased round in circles by the sudden gusts of warm, rain-laden wind. The worsening weather seemed like a bad
omen and I had to force myself into a positive frame of mind. It wasn’t easy.
Nya Wang had told me he’d be at the house at all times. I rang the bell. This time the steel door was answered by a man I hadn’t seen on my last visit. He was dressed in a monk’s robes and moved with the quiet grace I’d seen in Nya Wang. I was ushered into the same room that we’d been in before and Nya Wang appeared as tea was being served.
‘I have news from Ah Sun,’ he announced without preamble. ‘The Toyama Maru is here at the Pun Shan Shek anchorage. And there is a foreign woman on board, possibly your colleague from Greece. He does not know for sure.’
‘When will Ah Sun come ashore?’ I asked. ‘I need him to help me get aboard.’
‘Do not be hasty. I have asked for more information. He will contact me again. You must understand he is in a dangerous position. He cannot risk being uncovered.’
There was nothing more I could do but wait. At least it seemed Zoe, if it was her, was alive. He promised to call me when he had news so I left to return to my hotel.
The taxi was coming out of the cross-harbour tunnel onto Hong Kong side when Claire called. She had news too and wanted to see me. She sounded agitated. I redirected the driver to the Conrad and met her in the lobby. We went to her room, which was in fact a suite with a separate lounge-cum-office.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Amber’s been in touch,’ she said. ‘Ishikawa has fresh intel on Dark Ocean and FOAS. Their plans are much further advanced than we’d guessed. The PSIA have been digging and it seems the hostile takeover strategy is already being implemented.’
She handed me a printout. ‘This was delivered by the Consulate an hour ago. It’s been decrypted. It’s the same list of targets we had in Tokyo but look at the names in red. They’re already under their control. They’re using proxies to acquire them but the PSIA have linked the proxies to Dark Ocean and FOAS members. Amber says she has had all these acquisitions checked out.’
I looked more closely. There were eighteen companies in red, all in the Asia Pacific region including three in Australia. I recognised most of them: small to medium-sized shipowners and charterers; nothing that was going to grab headlines in the international business press.