A controversial new spy book claims Britain's intelligence-gathering operation in Hong Kong was part of an international network which hoodwinked the New Zealand Government throughout the 1980s.
The claims, which have caused a storm of controversy, allege intelligence on China gathered at Britain's communications spy base at Chung Hom Kok, went into a central United States computer without screening or analysis by the governments of the agents who gathered the data.
Secret Power, published in Wellington this week, claims New Zealand and Australian agents ran the Hong Kong end of the clandestine satellite spy-ring from a remote intelligence facility in Melbourne.
Its author, long-time anti-nuclear protester Nick Hager, said intelligence was fed into the network - codenamed Echelon - from satellite and radio listening posts elsewhere in the world as well as Hong Kong.
Intelligence intercepted in the territory and fed into the system had the sub-codename 'Geranium'.
'Geranium' intelligence was then sifted through and if key words fed into the computer system by US and British intelligence chiefs appeared, the data gathered at Chung Hom Kok bypassed the normal checks and went straight to Washington.
