The reason behind an October meeting in Beijing between former intelligence officials from the previous Myanmar military regime and Chinese think tanks was that China wants to understand the extent of infiltration by anti-Chinese intelligence agencies, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Taiwanese agencies, within Myanmar, a former intelligence officer told the pro-junta weekly The Statesman.
Ahead of Myanmar regime leader Min Aung Hlaing’s visit in early November, former Military Intelligence (MI) officials ex-Brigadier General Thein Swe and ex-Colonel Hla Min met members of the Charhar Institute and the Taihe Institute in Beijing. They met the think tanks in their respective capacities as chairman and special counsel to the chairman of the Paragon Institute.
According to the Chinese think tanks, the two sides discussed activities to jointly commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar. Thein Swe also provided an update on the situation in Myanmar, particularly regarding the country’s internal security situation.
The former military intelligence officer was quoted by The Statesman as saying Thein Swe and Hla Min were personally invited to Beijing. The Statesman journal is published by junta-backed NP News.
“China is concerned about what the US might be doing. It wants to know things about the CIA and Taiwanese espionage,” said the former military intelligence officer who served under once-powerful MI chief Khin Nyunt.
“He [Thein Swe] served in the department for spying on foreigners. So, he knows CIA and Taiwanese agents. He knows exactly who the CIA agent is in the US Embassy. So, apparently China wants to find out about it.”
Both Thein Swe and Hla Min served in the MI under Khin Nyunt’s leadership.
Thein Swe served as the head of international relations for the MI, then known as the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI). He later served as military attaché in Bangkok under the previous military regime, which was named the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and later the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). In that role, he was instrumental in forging stronger relations with the Thai establishment, military and media as he built up an effective spy network in Thailand to monitor and harass the thousands of democracy activists who fled Myanmar after the 1988 Uprising.
As a son of a diplomat, Hla Min spent most of his childhood overseas and finished high school in Europe. He joined Myanmar’s Defense Services Academy in 1972 and spent the next 32 years in the military, mostly working to defend the previous regime and to criticize Western countries, especially the US, as an SPDC spokesman. He later joined the MI.
The regime’s involvement in the recent visit by the pair to China might have been limited to scrutinizing the purpose of their visit and giving approval, the military intelligence officer told the pro-junta weekly.
China has always wanted to know the extent of counter-espionage operations by the CIA and other groups in Myanmar, and it needs to know more given the current situation, the former intelligence officer reportedly said. China might have also asked Thein Swe’s opinion about infiltration of CIA cells in border areas, he added.
The Statesman didn’t say to what extent the ex-intelligence official it quoted knew about Thein Swe and Hla Min’s visit to China. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify his statement.
Thein Swe and Hla Min were arrested along with many other MI officials during a power struggle between the intelligence faction and the army faction in 2004 when their chief Khin Nyunt was purged and the MI was abolished.
Before his arrest Thein Swe was tasked by Khin Nyunt with publishing the Myanmar Times newspaper as part of the regime’s propaganda campaign. He ran the paper with his son Sonny Swe, who later went on to launch Frontier Myanmar magazine.
Hla Min was released in 2011 and Thein Swe in 2014. Since the coup in 2021, Thein Swe, along with other old MI hands, has assisted the military regime at the junta’s boss request in various areas, including international relations.
In late October this year both Thein Swe and Hla Min appeared in China for the first time as the chairman and special counsel to the chairman of the Paragon Institute, a formerly unknown Myanmar think tank.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the institute is funded by the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs (OCMSA), a successor to Khin Nyunt’s secret service. The head of OCMSA is General Ye Win Oo, one of current junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s confidantes.
