Alice Guo 'was a spy, but not a special one,' says ex-cellmate of self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang
A new source has spoken up on the allegations that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo is a Chinese spy.
A certain Wang Fu Gui, who is a former cellmate of self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang, claimed that Alice "was a spy, but not a special one" in a Zoom interview with Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
Alice was previously confronted with a documentary from Al Jazeera about Zhijang where he showed a dossier on Guo Hua Ping, who is believed to be the dismissed mayor's true identity.
Wang said that he and Zhijang "were good friends who trusted each other and lived in prison for 1.5 years."
"After my release, he entrusted me to handle some of his declassified file matters. It should be accurate to say that he gave me access to some of the top-secret documents, and I am only one of the custodians of these documents." he explained. "Still, the opening of every one of them is only valid if it is authorized by Mr. She's own decryption passphrase."
Among the files was a dossier on Guo, which led Wang to conclude that the dismissed mayor is a Chinese spy.
"The content of the declassified file kept by Mr. She is large and I only have declassified a portion under his authorization. She was a spy, but not a special one. It just happens there is a copy of her state security background there," Wang said.
"Her situation with Mr. She has a lot of similarities. That’s all I can say, because I’m not Mr. She himself, and according to my agreement with him, I can only reveal so much, sorry," he added.
When asked if he knew how Guo was recruited to become a spy, he explained that "all field agents recruited by State Security will have very detailed background information investigated."
"There are also special hacking teams and hometown associations and chambers of commerce in charge of overseas information collection, including the secrets and weaknesses of some people that will be held in the background information, and this is the main method of controlling the field agents overseas by State Security," Wang said.
"For example, Guo Hua Ping’s fake Filipino identity is such a secret and weakness that she can only listen to State Security. Mr. She’s experience is similar," he continued.
On whether Alice was planted in the Philippines as a spy when she was just a child or was only recruited when she first became mayor of Bamban, Wang merely said that "her campaign itself was arranged by Chinese state security."
He also spoke on the issue of how the POGO and scamming businesses are related to the spying operations, saying that it "has a lot to do with the Chinese government's exuberant intelligence." He also claimed that there are "people from all countries" who are spies in the country, and "they are not all Chinese."
Wang also said a certain Ma Dongli could be Alice Guo's handler and acted as a go-between Zhijiang and Alice.
"Ma Dongli is Mr. She Zhijiang's State Security Contact. He is the second generation of the Reds, he has an American identity, he is also the vice president of the Thai Chinese Association, and he was the third highest ranking member of the Yatai before. Mr. She Zhijiang was illegally entrapped, there is a high probability that he is also Guo Hua Ping's handler and that Mr. She Zhijiang's contact with Guo Hua Ping is through Ma Dongli. That is the only thing that I can answer," he said.
He went on to share that Zhijiang is now reported to have been "severely suppressed by the Chinese Government for his revelation of the espionage case involving Guo Hua Ping" and that he has been placed "under strict surveillance in Thai prisons, and his contact with the outside world has been restricted."
Alice Guo's reaction
The Zoom interview was shown during the Senate panel on women on Oct. 8. In a reaction video posted on Hontiveros' Facebook page, Alice could be seen appearing to sneer on the question of how Guo Hua Ping was recruited to become a spy.
She was also shown grimacing and shaking her head during several points of the discussion, such as when Wang talked about Guo's "fake Filipino identity."
Speculations on Alice's identity began after she was linked to two POGOs in Bamban: Hongsheng Gaming Technology Incorporated, which was raided in February 2023, and Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated, which was raided in March this year. These were likewise accused of trafficking and scams.
She was questioned as to why she was supposedly unaware of such alleged illegal activities. In past Senate hearings, she was also asked about her background to confirm her nationality. She has since maintained that she's Filipino and has denied having ties to POGOs in Bamban and being a Chinese spy.
"Mahal ko po ang Pilipinas, Filipino po ako, hindi po ako spy," Alice stressed in one of the hearings.
Senators investigate Alice Guo's communist ties
During an Oct. 7 hearing, Hontiveros showed travel records that prove that Zhijiang had traveled to the Philippines several times between 2015 to 2020 using Cagayan Economic Zone Authority working visa, "9A" or Temporary Working Visa, and an "Executive Order 408" visa.
The case is similar to Dongli, who was revealed to have visited the Philippines using the same visas and a Special Investors Resident Visa from 1995 to 2018.
With the revelation that the two have been going to the country using several Philippine-issued visas, lawmakers have begun to look into Alice's Chinese communist ties.
Francisco Ashley Acedillo, a former Magdalo congressman who now is Deputy Director General for the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), believed that the Chinese Communist Party has a network of spies to infiltrate the political and economic institutions of other countries.
According to him, Alice and Zhijiang may be a "united front" to achieve the interests of the communist government.
"The ‘united front’ must be understood not just as a Chinese communist party arm, but also as a broad system involving agencies, social organizations, businesses, universities, research institutions, and individuals carrying out ‘united front’ work activities. It is a dedicated body within the Chinese party state apparatus," Acedillo said.
He assured that NICA continues to conduct a parallel investigation into Zhijiang's allegation that he and Alice are "MSS agents."
"We can inform the committee of the parallels between She Zhiyang and Guo Hua Ping during closed door discussions, and tie it up with our current efforts in national intelligence, as to the extent of the united front work of the Chinese communist party and mainland China," Acedillo said. (with reports from Cecille Suerte Felipe and Marc Jayson Cayabyab, The Philippine STAR)
