Chinese Triads
Dry Duck on trial
Brian Eads
Hong Kong Henry Liu Yi-Liang, a Chinese- American writer and journalist, was shot to death in the garage of his home in Daly City, south of San Francisco in California, on the morning of 15 October last year. What might have looked like a commonplace killing in that most violent of states has now evolved into a fascinating 'whodunnit' peopled by spies, politicians, and Chinese secret societies. The trial of Liu's alleged killers, which opens in Taipei, Taiwan on 2 April, will attract the close attention not only of 19 million Taiwanese, but also of Washington, Peking and over- seas Chinese everywhere.
Three men stand accused of Liu's mur- der. One of them has vanished. The other two, Chen Chi-Li and Wu Tun, appeared before a press-trial hearing in Taipei last week and announced that they killed the writer on the instructions of senior officials of the country's Military Intelligence Bureau. Three officials of the Bureau, including its chief, vice-admiral Wang Hsi- Ling, have been arrested, dismissed and now await trial before a military tribunal. As if this was not sufficiently embarrassing for the island's Kuomintang government, Chen Chi-Li is the reputed 'godfather' of the Bamboo Union, Taiwan's premier Triad, or secret society, and Wu Tun is said to be his senior lieutenant. The Bamboo Union is believed to have more than 10,000 members, with overseas chapters in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, In- donesia, and the Philippines. Its stock in trade is extortion, prostitution and illegal gambling.
Chen says that he was recruited by Admiral Wang to `teach Henry Liu a lesson', and he is said to have made three tapes detailing his relationship with the Intelligence Bureau. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has one copy, the Taiwan government a second and a Hong Kong newspaper the third. Chen might or might not be telling the truth, but it is certainly the case that the Taiwan govern- ment moved to dismiss Admiral Wang and two of his subordinates only after it learned that the FBI had a copy of the tape.
So far, so convoluted. But why was Henry Liu killed? His main claim to fame is as biographer of Taiwan's President, Chiang Ching-Kuo, who succeeded his father 'Generalissimo' Chiang Kai-Shek, a decade ago. The updated version of the biography was published in Chinese in September last year, and it is now in its third printing. It is less than flattering. Indeed something more irreverent and provocative is difficult to coneeive. Em- ploying rumour, innuendo and satire Liu pulls grotesquely deformed skeletons from the Chiang family's cupboard. The 'Gener- alissimo' is said to have delighted in tossing his first wife off balconies, and 'taken a painted whore as his second wife. Liu questions the paternity of Chiang Ching- Kuo, and goes on to accuse him of closet communism. The 75-year-old President is depicted as a selfish, power-hungry auto- crat surrounded by 'yes' men. As for 'free' China, says Liu, it is a one-party state marshalled by secret policemen and bears an uncanny resemblance to the Communist-ruled People's Republic.
All this would seem to be enough to invite the Kuomintang government's wrath were it not for the fact that Liu's original biography, published ten years ago, is even more scathing, and that Liu had already received US$17,000 of the US$20,000 'a grateful member of the intelligence com- munity in Taiwan' had agreed to pay him to tone down the work.
In his statements to police, Chen, nick- named 'the dry duck' in Taipei, makes no mention of the book. He says rather that Liu was a 'double agent' working for both Taipei and Peking. He was thought to have undermined Taiwan's intelligence efforts in China. (US reports also have the writer working part time as an informer for the FBI.) It is on record that Liu visited China on a number of occasions, returning from his most recent trip a few weeks before his death. Liu did once train at Taiwan's political warfare school, where he was regarded as a star pupil, but again, the story and motive seem incomplete.
If the Kuomintang did use the Bamboo Union to rub out Henry Liu it would be a liaison well founded in Chinese history. The Triad societies began life in the 17th Swiss closet clock. century with the stated goal of ousting the Manchu usurpers of the Ching dynasty and restoring the Han Chinese Ming dynasty.
Their arcane initiation ceremonies, para- phernalia and customs still draw heavily on history and garbled legend. Dr Sun Yal- Sen, who finally ousted the Ching and established the Chinese Republic in 1912, was a fully paid up 'Red Pole', senior official, of the Kwok On Wui Triad in Honolulu and he went on to form his own Triad society which, in time, was trans- formed into the 'National People's Party' — the Kuomintang. The KMT used Triad gangs against both Chinese Communists and Japanese invad- ers before fleeing to Taiwan in 1949, and in more recent times Triad toughs have been used against dissident elements on Taiwan, notably the anti-KMT Taiwan Independ- ence Movement.
Perhaps the saga stops at Admiral Wang, said by government officials to have acted on his own initiative. It would be damaging enough. Already there are calls hi the US Congress for the suspension of arms sales to Taiwan. Last year they totalled almost $800 million. Congressmen take a dim view of foreign governments murdering US citizens on US soil.
But the murder of Liu cannot easily be characterised as the cull-inspired decision of a naive, overzealous spymaster. Admiral' Wang served as ADC to the old Generalis- simo and is an intimate of the Chiang family. Furthermore, Chiang Ching-Kuo's son, Chiang Hsiao-Wu, is said by the opposition press, and the New York Times, to have been friendly with 'Dry Duck' Chen, and to have hinted broadly that if he helped dispose of Liu it would be in lus interests. (The President's son doubles as manager of the Broadcasting Corporation of China and deputy secretary of the National Security Council.) Curiously, a few days after Chen and lieutenant Wu Tun returned to Taiwan from California, a nationwide sweep was begun which has since hauled in some 1,000 members of the Bamboo Union. The sweep, reportedly ordered by Chiang Hsiao-Wu, compounds the confusion. Chiang Hsiao-Wu vehemently denies any involvement in the affair, as does the government. They say Admiral Wang admits recruiting Chen, but only to spy on China, and they hint at some dastardly plot by Peking or, at very least, an attempt by 'Dry Duck' to save his own skin. Having rejected calls for the extradition of the two accused to the United States, on the grounds that it has neither diplomatic relations nor an extradition treaty with Washington, Taiwan is being obliged .to wash its dirty linen in public. The exercise now is to have justice seen to be done while. limiting the damage to relations with the United States and the island's international image. Rival groups jockeying for power after the demise of the ailing president Chiang will doubtless seek to turn events to their advantage. Peking, meanwhile, is relishing every minute of the scandal.
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