CCTV anchor suspected of spying for Taiwan
By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-12 07:23
A veteran anchor with China Central Television (CCTV) is under suspicion
of spying, sources revealed Thursday.
Fang Jing, the 38-year-old face of CCTV's prime-time military program
Defense Watch, is being investigated for possibly spying for Taiwan, colleagues
told China Daily.
The security authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the reports
.
Fang, a Beijing native with a postgraduate degree, started hosting the
program in 2006. Her last on-air appearance was on the Sunday edition on
March 1 when she hosted an episode about India's military strength featuring
Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong, a military expert at the National Defense
University.
Fang's segments often touch upon regional military topics and she compares
China's military capacity with foreign powers, often with the help of specialists
from the People's Liberation Army.
Zhang, who has been a frequent guest on the show, told China Daily Thursday
night that Fang's case is "still under investigation" and "no conclusion
has been reached so far".
"She has not been jailed as is being rumored," Zhang said. "But she is
not hosting the program anymore, because she is currently being investigated
."
He confirmed that Fang quit after the March 1 edition.
Sources with CCTV also confirmed Thursday that Fang had been "taken away
for a possible spy probe".
She was rumored to have been seduced by a man from Taiwan who was "eight
years younger than her" and to have received money from him, the sources
said.
Fang had been member of the all-star line-up at some of the largest live
broadcasts in CCTV history, including the three-day live coverage of the
return of Hong Kong to the mainland in 1997 and live coverage of the millennium
celebrations.
She started working for CCTV in 1994 after graduating from China's top
school for broadcast journalists and spent four months at Harvard University
in Boston as a visiting scholar.
A Yi, another CCTV anchor, speculated on his blog on Tuesday that Fang
, who had hosted prime-time news features and news bulletins, wanted to host
the military weekly program "for the purpose of collecting military intelligence
for sources outside".
An online forum about Fang Thursday night was filled with emotional posts
, with many fans expressing shock and outrage.
"It can't be that such an outstanding woman has been turned against the
mainland," a viewer said on condition of anonymity.
"But if it's true, it is quite worrisome because she could have learned
a lot through her job."