CHIN: 'NOTHING TO REGRET'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650022-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: February 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650022-1
APP EIS '1
Spy Calls Imprisonment `Small Pizce' for Boosting Sino-U.&`Tie
WASHINGTON POST
11 February 1986
Chin: `Nothing to Regret'
By Caryle Murphy
3 Washington Post Staff Writer
Larry Wu-Tai Chip, the former
CIA analyst convicted last week of
spying for China for 30 years, de-
scribed himself yesterday as "a pa-
triotic American" who had no re-
grets about handing over classified
information because he believed
that he had helped "bring about the
conversion of China from an enemy
to a sworn ally."
"When I think I have accom-
plished these efforts to improve the
livelihood of 1 billion Chinese peo-
ple, my being in prison, even for
life, is a -very .snap price to pay,"
said Chin during a half-hour news
conference at -the Prince William
County Detention Center, where he
is awaiting sentencing on March 17.
"It's worth it, I have nothing to
regret," he said, although he admit-
ted that "I had no right" to pass
classified information.
Chin, wearing a navy blue jail
jump suit, appeared relaxed, and he
occasionally laughed with reporters.
He had requested the interview,
and he was eager.to elaborate on
his reasons for spying, which he
related to a federal jury in Alexan-
dria at his trial last week.
Chin, a Chinese translator with
the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Infor-
mation Service until his retirement
in 1981, told the court that he had
given the Chinese secret informa-
tion as part of a personal "mission"
to lessen hostility -between the two
countries.
He said he passed only informa-
tion indicating U.S. intentions to
normalize relations with China and
its hopes for friendship with Peking
in an effort to calm Chinese suspi-
cions and paranoia about the United
States.
He said the $180,000 that pros-
ecutors said he received from the
Chinese was "only a byproduct" of
this private "mission."
Yesterday, Chin met reporters
with a list of 20 points written in
Chinese that he hoped to make dur-
ing the interview. Asked if he ever
considered himself a spy, he re-
plied: "If you have to give that
name, then, I guess that's it." But
he added that "I think I'm a patri-
otic American trying to convert a
sworn enemy into a trusted ally."
When a reporter asked him if he
were "proud of stealing docu-
ments," Chin said that the remark
"hurt me to the quick."
"I was not proud of the stealing
portion, but I was proud of the re-
sults .... The means [may] be ter-
rible but the end is good."
Drawing on his Chinese heritage,
as he did several times during the
interview, Chin related a legend
about a Chinese statesman, Sima
Guang, who smashed a jar full of
water to save a child who was
drowning in the liquid.
.By the same token, I broke the
law of the United States," Chin said,
"like breaking that jar, but I drained
away the water of hostility and
saved the child of U.S. and China
friendship and cooperation and rec-
onciliation."
"I would have to think it over,"
Chin, 63 and a naturalized Amer.
ican since 1952, responded when
asked if he would accept an offer, if
it were given, for political asylum in
China. "I have very good feelings
about the United States. This is my
country. I want to stay here."
He faces a maximum of two life
sentences and 83 additional years in
prison as well as more than $3 milli
on espionage, conspiracy, income ai
and financial reporting laws..- -
Testimony at the. trial,and inter-
views with relatives portray Chin as a
very intelligent man, driven by_
X-_ TA
played sophistication and,naiyet
play blac
el an
in
.
jack
a.uq ? egas.
"He's a very cpniplex,man,sai
one family member. who,__' did "not
want to be identiLed. He said. Chj
always spoke his mind but dislike %
confrontation; and though 1i "was
worldly in many ways, "he was aW7
gullible at times....
He is conside'redra patriarch of',
extended family of 'about 4Q me u
hers, many of whom he.bad..hel
X emigrate to the United States. -.-
The same qualities that brought,
Chin acclaim from his CIA supervi :
sors as "one of the. best- Chiiigs
translators at the broadcast service
caused him to keep meticulous .dia
ries that prosecutors effectively.!.I I
at his trial to document his meetingo:
with Chinese agents. Chin's e t es
included such details as the .diklfes;he'1
ate in Peking with three senior -,of-
ficials of the intelligence service.'
"Bears' feet" and `muttenpot.~'""
Perhaps the most damaging. par
of the government's evidence:.
against Chin came from" statementh'
he made to FBI agents-the night of"
his arrest, when he described his''
sp
in
activities
~;
5.1
y
g
.
;,
Asked yesterday whyhe No gpiq
ken to them,'' Chin p.aid, he had f1
but also "sort of relieved- to..ke a''
chance to tell my st6t- -,t`xbg it
sciously or unconsciously, ,ryvan ed
people to know what I did was'tot
the good of U.S.-China relitionr `c'
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650022-1