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Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) Director-General Paul Symon speaks at the Lowy Institute, in Sydney, Australia, May 10, 2022. Peter Morris/Lowy Institute/Handout via REUTERS Photo: Reuters / PETER MORRIS/LOWY INSTITUTE
Democratic systems in Australia's region are at risk of being manipulated, with their leaders controlled and taken advantage of through "largesse", Australia's overseas intelligence chief said in a rare public appearance on Tuesday. On China, Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) Director-General Paul Symon said he saw signs of growing discontent with a rigid domestic political system, which he suggested could lead to more Chinese officials offering information. Symon was speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank weeks after the Solomons Island signed a security pact with China, worrying Western allies who are concerned it could provide a gateway for a Chinese military presence in the Pacific. "I see in our region the extent to which democratic systems ... can be manipulated (and) political leaders can be ... directed and controlled, can take advantage of largesse that has been showered upon them," Symon said without identifying any countries or elaborating on what he meant by largesse. Symon stressed the significance of the implications of the security pact for the Solomon Islands and the wider region. "What is going on at the moment is a big deal. It's a big deal for Australia, it's a big deal for the region and I think for the mothers and many of the ordinary citizens of the Solomon Islands it's a very big deal," Symon said to an audience which included MI6 chief Richard Moore. The pact has become an issue in Australia's election campaign, with the government defending itself against accusations of a major foreign policy failure. Details of the pact have not been disclosed, although Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says it covers Chinese police assisting with social order and protecting Chinese infrastructure. China has said the agreement calls for it to help the Solomon Islands maintain social order and cope with natural disasters and humanitarian relief and does not pose a risk to any other countries. In 2003, at the request of the Solomon Islands then prime minister, Allan Kemakeza, Australia led a decade-long regional peacekeeping mission to the country to help restore stability and security after unrest. Symon was among a delegation that met Kemakeza in 2003 to get approval for the mission, in which foreign forces were deployed under the command of the Solomons government, with objectives including removing illegal guns from the community and cracking down on corruption. Two decades on, he said there was a "very different dynamic" in the Solomon Islands. "There are pressures, there are offers that are causing concerns," he said. On China, Symon said its domestic political system, which he described as an "enforced monoculture", was stirring domestic discontent. "We don't yet know exactly how that will play out, but what we're seeing is more and more signs of officials, individuals interested in a relationship ... a very real concern about their culture, a lack of diversity in their culture," he said. © Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. All rights reserved. Join the Discussion

Australia's Neighbours At Risk Of Manipulation - Spy Chief

Asis director-general Paul Symon said democratic leaders could be controlled and taken advantage of through "largesse". PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Democratic systems in Australia's region are at risk of being manipulated, with their leaders controlled and taken advantage of through "largesse", Australia's overseas intelligence chief said in a rare public appearance on Tuesday (May 10). On China, Secret Intelligence Service (Asis) Director-General Paul Symon said he saw signs of growing discontent with a rigid domestic political system, which he suggested could lead to more Chinese officials offering information. Mr Symon was speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank weeks after the Solomons Island signed a security pact with China, worrying Western allies who are concerned it could provide a gateway for a Chinese military presence in the Pacific. "I see in our region the extent to which democratic systems... can be manipulated (and) political leaders can be... directed and controlled, can take advantage of largesse that has been showered upon them," Mr Symon said without identifying any countries or elaborating on what he meant by largesse. Mr Symon stressed the significance of the implications of the security pact for the Solomon Islands and the wider region. "What is going on at the moment is a big deal. It's a big deal for Australia, it's a big deal for the region and I think for the mothers and many of the ordinary citizens of the Solomon Islands it's a very big deal," Mr Symon said to an audience which included MI6 chief Richard Moore. The pact has become an issue in Australia's election campaign, with the government defending itself against accusations of a major foreign policy failure. Details of the pact have not been disclosed, although Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says it covers Chinese police assisting with social order and protecting Chinese infrastructure. China has said the agreement calls for it to help the Solomon Islands maintain social order and cope with natural disasters and humanitarian relief and does not pose a risk to any other countries. In 2003, at the request of the Solomon Islands then prime minister, Mr Allan Kemakeza, Australia led a decade-long regional peacekeeping mission to the country to help restore stability and security after unrest. Mr Symon was among a delegation that met Mr Kemakeza in 2003 to get approval for the mission, in which foreign forces were deployed under the command of the Solomons government, with objectives including removing illegal guns from the community and cracking down on corruption. Two decades on, he said there was a "very different dynamic" in the Solomon Islands. "There are pressures, there are offers that are causing concerns," he said. More On This Topic

Australia's neighbours at risk of manipulation: Spy chief

Spy boss hints unhappy China officials aiding Australia
The Guardian
The head of Australia’s foreign intelligence service has used a rare public address to suggest that an increasing number of disillusioned Chinese officials are willing to cooperate with the agency. Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) director-general Paul Symon addressed a range of topics related to Australia’s foreign intelligence operations, including the recent Solomon Islands-China security pact and the need to recruit new spies “with more vigor and urgency” than ever before. Speaking at a Sydney event hosted by the Lowy Institute to mark ASIS’ 70th anniversary, he said the audience, which included high ranking members of Australia’s intelligence community and top diplomats, would have to “occasionally read between the lines.”
However, he was fairly upfront in some of his comments on China, saying there were “more and more signs of officials [and] individuals interested in a relationship” due to their concerns about “an enforced monoculture.”
Symon said that his organization needs to “remain low-profile but ... not have no profile” as it seeks to adapt to the modern intelligence gathering environment. “The world is experiencing more than just a realignment in power. The global rules-based order is being manipulated and subverted. The future will likely be less advantageous to Australia than that we once knew,” Symon said. Emerging technologies are posing “a near-existential” risk to the work of services such as ASIS, with Australia’s covert activities becoming “increasingly discoverable,” he said. “As we move forward, ASIS will need more officers with more diverse skills and backgrounds supported by more integrated capabilities. We are going to need to recruit and work with even more vigor and urgency than at any other point in our 70-year history,” Symon said. “At the same time as our operating environment has become more competitive and volatile, it has also become increasingly difficult to conduct human intelligence work,” he said. Symon said that while human intelligence “remains a core component of statecraft, it must adapt to meet the extraordinary challenges arising from the interaction of a complex strategic environment, intensified counter-intelligence efforts, and emergent and emerging technologies.”
“For a service like my own, there is a near-existential dimension to technology risk. The analogue systems and processes which spies of the past took for granted have been relegated to history, and we now live in a fundamentally digital era where our covert activities are increasingly discoverable,” he said. “In this technological sandbox, authoritarian regimes are having a heyday.”
Symon also said that ASIS “inserted” a “small team” of officers into Afghanistan as the Taliban seized power last year, including officers in the “chaos” of crowds seeking to leave the country at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, as they facilitated evacuations. SPEAKING UP
Symon also seemed to suggest that Chinese officials and residents are increasingly looking to provide ASIS with intelligence. In a conversation with Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove, Symon was asked how ASIS gains human intelligence without coercion, and said that more “officials, individuals unhappy with the trajectory of closed societies are willing to speak up, are willing to take risks.”
Symon compared China with India where he said that “the diversity in the color of ancient culture ... and the extent to which that diversity is so rich and so alive.”
“Yet in China, we have an ancient culture, but there’s an enforced monoculture that’s being enforced. We don’t yet know exactly how that will play out, but what we’re seeing is more and more signs of officials [and] individuals interested in a relationship,” he said. “That’s not coercion, that is very real concern about their culture, the lack of diversity in their culture and the direction that they’re heading in,” Symon said. ETHICAL QUESTIONS
Asked how ASIS factors ethical and legal questions into its operations, Symon said that for officers who decide to opt out of an operation because they are uncomfortable about a task or have concerns with its legality, he has given them an undertaking that it would not be detrimental to their career. “It doesn’t happen in great numbers, it happens occasionally,” Symon said, adding that these officers sometimes then speak with an ethics counselor and opt back in to an operation. SOLOMON ISLANDS
Symon was also asked about the security pact signed between China and the Solomon Islands. He had traveled to Honiara for urgent talks with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare before the deal was signed. Speaking about the state of democracies in general, Symon said: “what I do see, not so much in Australia, but I see in our region, the extent to which the democratic systems in our region can be manipulated.”
“Political leaders can be subverted, can be directed and controlled, can take advantage of largesse that has been showered upon them,” he said. “Our job really is to help the government know and understand exactly what is going on and as people are commenting, denying, responding to activities of, I won’t say coercion, but manipulation.”
“It’s important that we reveal for our government that they know and understand exactly what is happening in that area,” Symon said. Symon also pointed to Australia sending troops and federal police to Honiara at the request of the government as it faced unrest in November last year. “For me, the approach that we took in that very rapid period of time, typified the way that we look to support the Solomon Islands and it’s not what I see other countries in the way other countries are considering the type of support they wish to give the Solomon Islands,” he said. “For me, that’s what good looks like.”
Symon said the intelligence community had been “very seized” by the security pact with China, and that ASIS would continue gathering and sharing intelligence relevant to the Solomon Islands. Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

Spy boss hints unhappy China officials aiding Australia

Apr 30, 2022 11:00 AM PHT
Leni Robredo Media Bureau
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The Nagueños closest to Vice President Leni Robredo paint a picture of a woman whose sense of duty is unparalleled
MANILA, Philippines – When she was working at the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (Saligan), Leni Robredo and her fellow lawyers had to travel to Ragay town in Camarines Sur to give a legal seminar to residents of the coastal community. Her colleagues tried to dissuade her from taking the 68-kilometer trip from Naga City to Ragay. This was in 1999 – the terrain then was rough, too dangerous for Robredo who was pregnant with her youngest daughter Jillian. Robredo suffered cramps and was slightly bleeding on the day of the trip, but she insisted on going. Each member of the team was assigned different topics during the seminar. If she didn’t go, no one could fill in for her. “When she got back, she was profusely bleeding already. But that’s who she is: when there’s the need to work, then she will work,” said Gerardo Borja, Robredo’s close friend and former Saligan boss. “Even if she feels physically unstable, if she still could do it, she would do it. That’s really her character,” Borja told Rappler. An alternative lawyer and economist by profession, Robredo initially worked at the Public Attorney’s Office before applying for a job at the Bicol chapter of Saligan. Her colleagues said that not once did Robredo make them feel that she was the wife of longtime Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo. Vice President Robredo’s penchant to go the extra mile even if she didn’t have to was already apparent when she was still in her hometown Naga City in Camarines Sur, long before she aspired to be the next Philippine president. LAWYER FOR THE ‘LAYLAYAN.’ Leni Robredo speaks during one of Saligan’s legal seminars on the rights of women and children on March 30, 2007. Photo from VP Leni Media Bureau
When Robredo talks about “resibo” – receipts or proof of what she has done – she does not only draw from her experience as vice president and former congresswoman of Camarines Sur’s 3rd District. Much of who Robredo is as a person and the principles she stands for as a public servant were shaped in Naga City. This is where she grew up, the eldest of three children raised by a teacher and a regional trial court judge. This is the place where she met her soulmate. This is her home, where she and Jesse built a life together with their daughters Aika, Tricia, and Jillian. For decades, Robredo was the quiet strength behind Jesse, helping her husband manage the city away from the limelight. When she was not busy being a no-drama tiger mom to her daughters, Robredo would be out on the field representing abused women and farmers in court. When she became congresswoman in 2013, she championed bills seeking greater transparency and accountability in government. One such measure was the people empowerment measure, which would have replicated the “People’s Councils” that Jesse institutionalized in Naga so ordinary folk could be a part of policy-making. When she was elected vice president in 2016, Robredo was able to run effective anti-poverty and pandemic relief drives despite the meager budget of her office. These days, on the presidential campaign trail, even reporters following the indefatigable Robredo across provinces can hardly keep up with her. Some newsrooms end up deploying two teams just to cover all of Robredo’s daily campaign activities, which start early in the morning and could last until midnight. “We’re tripling our efforts on the ground,” tweeted Robredo after visiting far-flung Lubang Island in Occidental Mindoro on April 26. “All corners of the Philippines are valuable to us.”
PINK WAVE. Thousands attend Vice President Leni Robredo’s rally held at Plaza de Francisco M. Sanchez in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro, on April 26, 2022. Photo by VP Leni Media Bureau
Robredo was always the reluctant candidate, never harboring any childhood dreams of becoming president. But she has repeatedly responded to calls for her to step up, from the 2013 congressional race in Camarines Sur to the 2016 vice presidential contest, and now the battle for Malacañang in 2022. The day Jesse died in a plane crash, Leni had to be strong – for her daughters, for Naga, for a nation mourning the loss of a man who touched the lives of many. She was the grieving widow, and yet many of the people whom Jesse left behind held on to her for strength and stability. “That’s when I was truly awed by her. After the tragedy in 2012, that’s when I realized Leni was good at what she does,” said Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Gabriel Bordado, a dear friend of the Robredos. “Leni was virtually giving us the strength we needed. I said Leni can do it. She can be a leader of our community.”
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Lighting the path for women
Naga City Vice Mayor Nene de Asis, another close friend of Robredo, credited her for helping encourage more women to be more involved in local policy-making in Naga. Robredo founded Lakas ng Kababaihan in 1992 and later became president of the Naga City Council for Women from 2008 to 2010. She was also a member of Bantay Familia, an organization working to prevent cases of domestic abuse. De Asis said membership in organizations was once ceremonial for women in Naga, but she saw how Robredo worked to change that. “When she sat in the Naga City Council of Women, it’s like she changed the mindset that women’s organizations just gather together when there’s an occasion, an induction ceremony,” said De Asis. “Like Jesse, she showed us that women should be involved, that they should craft programs that benefit others.”
VICE PRESIDENT Leni Robredo with close friend Naga City Vice Mayor Nene de Asis. Photo courtesy of Nene de Asis
In Naga, Robredo took on cases of abused women and children, cases that saw her going against influential figures in her own city. De Asis remembered some cases where parties involved included people whom the Robredos personally knew – and yet that did not stop Leni from representing the victims. “I said then she could have just opted to become a private lawyer who earns a lot of money, but she isn’t like that,” said De Asis. “She’d rather serve the people who are truly in need.”
Growing up in Naga
Robredo was quite shy and reserved during her childhood years in Naga, her best friend Sieg Borromeo told Rappler. Robredo was always by the side of her mother Sally Gerona, who used to teach at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel (USI), where Robredo finished grade school and high school. Her late father Antonio Gerona Sr. was a presiding judge at the Camarines Sur Regional Trial Court. She was close to her younger siblings Maria Lourdes and Antonio Jr., and helped her parents watch over them. Robredo followed a strict schedule even after school: she had piano lessons and theater and ballet classes that she  always attended on time. THE GERONAS. Vice President Leni Robredo (R) with her parents Antonio Sr. and Sally, and her siblings Maria Lourdes and Antonio Jr. Photo from VP Leni Media Bureau
As a friend, Robredo was always eager to share her things and chat, as little girls often too. The Geronas then were among the first in their circle to have their own Betamax, and the young Leni would  invite her friends to come over and watch. Their favorite tapes were animated stories from the Bible. Robredo and Borromeo were so close growing up, they were like twins who never left each other’s side. They played street games like dodge ball and agawan base. They sported the same hairstyle during their First Communion. Both excelled in academics and extra-curricular activities. Robredo may be quiet, but Borromeo said her friend caught the eye of many of their male school mates then. One even tried to woo both of them using the same love letter, but the two friends easily caught on. “The love letter he gave to her was the same love letter he gave me. Of course, we showed to each other the love letters we got in high school. We noticed how even the way the papers were folded was the same. So we both rejected him,” Borromeo said with a smile. LENI THE DANCER. A younger Leni Robredo (center) dances the ballet along with her childhood friend Sieg Borromeo (1st from right), Borromeo’s younger sister, and their classmates from their ballet class. Photo courtesy of Sieg Borromeo
The two were inseparable even in college. Robredo and Borromeo both attended the University of the Philippines Diliman, taking economics and engineering courses, respectively. It was the first time for the two probinsyanas to leave home and study in a co-ed school. They were dormmates at the Kalayaan Residence Hall, forming a close-knit relationship with other Nagueños in their dormitory. Robredo continues to stay in touch with Borromeo and her USI batch mates. They are now among her most dedicated campaigners, some even traveling across provinces to join house-to-house efforts or to help out in the rallies. Facing her Batch 1982 friends and other Isabelinas during her homecoming at USI on the eve of the start of the campaign period last February 7, Robredo said she was humbled by their support. “Please know that I am very, very grateful. I have said that so many people are doing something for me, but when it’s you doing it, it’s like an affirmation that I am doing something right,” said Robredo. Play  Video
Robredo’s ‘happy place’
Those closest to Robredo also speak of a woman who is at her most comfortable in the company of her friends. Nanz Mapa Robles, a local hairdresser from Naga City, beamed with pride when she told Rappler that she had been styling Robredo’s hair for the past two decades. Her favorite client isn’t vain, she said, as Robredo would always just ask for a trim and basic cleaning of her nails. “She would just get a foot spa on her birthday. That’s how thrifty she is,” said Robles. She and Robredo would often talk about their crushes, a secret between friends. Robles’ parlor along Magsaysay Avenue is nothing fancy, just the first floor of an apartment converted into your friendly neighborhood salon. But Robredo calls it her “must-go-to happy place” whenever she’s back home. ‘HAPPY PLACE.’ Vice President Leni Robredo gets pampered at the salon of Nanz Mapa-Robles. Photo from Leni Robredo’s Facebook page
Robles has since moved her parlor to a street on the border of Naga City and Camaligan town, yet Robredo still seeks her out. The day before Robredo officially kicked off her presidential campaign, she invited Robles to her house to help her prepare for the big day. While Robles gave the lone female presidential candidate a haircut, Robredo was on her laptop, doing last minute edits on her speech. For Robles, it’s a no-brainer that Robredo is qualified to be president. “Well, we can see for ourselves why she deserves it, right? She’s a lawyer. She’s an expert on many things, and in the services that she does, she’s hands-on, unlike the others,” said Robles. “That’s why she’s the only one qualified.”
Jesse’s guiding light
Long before becoming a politician, Robredo was already living out in Naga the  tsinelas leadership or the accessible and people-centered brand of governance  that her husband Jesse had been known for. Perhaps, it’s the reason why Leni and Jesse were meant for each other – because their core values had always been aligned. For all the leadership accolades Jesse received when he was alive, he would always credit Leni for being his guiding light. THE ROBREDOS. Then-Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo and his wife Leni pose for a picture with their three daughters Aika, Tricia, and Jillian. Photo courtesy of the Museo ni Jesse Robredo
“My wife serves as my conscience,” Jesse said when he received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000. “We led a clean political life because it was the influence of my wife. She constantly guides me to walk the difficult, but right path, almost all the time.” 
Leni does the same thing for Jesse today. Whenever Robredo goes on stage and promises to lead a clean and honest government that includes the last, the least, and the lost, it is a homage to the legacy of her husband . It was Jesse’s death that changed the course of Robredo’s life forever. It was also the day Nagueños – and the rest of the nation – saw for themselves what Jesse had been saying all along: that Leni could lead, Leni could govern, Leni could bring people together. – Rappler.com
Mara Cepeda
Mara Cepeda specializes in stories about politics and local governance. She covers the Office of the Vice President, the Senate, and the Philippine opposition. She is a 2021 fellow of the Asia Journalism Fellowship and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the UN. Got tips? Email her at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or tweet @maracepeda.

Unparalleled sense of duty: The Leni Robredo Nagueños knew

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