CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Australia's prime intelligence agency has increased the number of Chinese-speaking personnel to help counter Chinese spying in the country, a report said.
The Australian said Thursday recruitment of Chinese-language speakers by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization was part of an overall effort to recruit personnel with foreign language skills, including those speaking Arabic.
The number of ASIO officers from non-English-speaking backgrounds has soared from 78 to 166 in just the past two years, according to a government source, but the breakdown of language ability was not disclosed.
"The government is committed to appropriately resourcing our intelligence agencies," Attorney General Philip Ruddock also told the newspaper. "ASIO already has approximately 1,200 staff - double the number it had at the end of 2000-2001. It has developed innovative recruitment campaigns to recruit high-quality staff with a range of experience and backgrounds."
Government sources last year were quoted in news reports as saying they believed Chinese intelligence was aggressively targeting Australia to obtain technology and strategic policy information, and a large number of Chinese intelligence operatives were in the country.
