New Delhi: The shadowy US-led ‘Five Eyes’ worldwide spy alliance may be developing cracks and currently runs the risk of a collapse due to increasing concerns regarding the growing Chinese influence on New Zealand, which is one of its members. Incidentally, New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was entrusted with the task of spying on India and then passing on the information to the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA).
‘Five Eyes’ is an exclusive club of spy rings from five countries — Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States of America — that collaborate to intercept information from other countries to be used for diplomatic, security, military and economic benefits.
Voicing concern on the influence China has started enjoying in New Zealand because of increasing economic ties, a very recent report prepared by experts in a workshop organised by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said: “New Zealand governments have also encouraged China to be active in New Zealand’s region, from the South Pacific to Antarctica: initially as a balance to Soviet influence, as an aid donor and scientific partner, and since 2014 as part of the ‘diversification’ of New Zealand’s military links away from Five Eyes partnerships.”
Last year, New Zealand became the first Western country to sign a cooperation agreement with China on the Belt and Road policy. The report adds: “New Zealand is valuable to China, as well as to other states such as Russia, as a soft underbelly through which to access Five Eyes intelligence”.
During a Congressional hearing of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on April 5, Peter Mattis, a leading China expert in the US, who had also served as an international affairs analyst for the US government, testified:
“...at some level the Five Eyes or the Four Eyes need to have a discussion about whether or not New Zealand can remain given this problem with the political core...”. He also later said, “Extricating New Zealand from these military groupings and away from its traditional partners would be a major coup for the Xi government’s strategic goal of turning China into a global great power.”
An NSA (of US) document marked “top secret” and dated April 2013, says that as part of a joint effort, GCSB provides diplomatic communication to NSA on India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Vietnam, etc. In return, “NSA provides raw traffic, processing, and reporting on targets of mutual interest, in addition to technical advice and equipment loans,” the document said.
Publicly admitting its spying role in its 2013 annual report, GCSB explained that the alliance “helps compensate for our small size and lack of global reach, and enables New Zealand to be a better informed player on the world stage than would otherwise be the case.”
The spying effort is conducted by using satellite and telephone communications interceptors, hooking into target countries’ internal communications systems by installing listening posts in diplomatic buildings and interpreting information obtained by member agencies. Other methods included bugging computers and smartphones after infecting them with highly sophisticated malware.
