Two weeks later, simon thinks hes being followed again. Around the same time, simon receives an anonymous e mail. Its title chinese agents will find you and bring you back. Simon cheng is one of the leading figures in the hong kong democracy movement. Four years ago, he was working at the british consulate and was asked to monitor escalating protests. Weeks later, he vanished during a consulate trip to mainland china. Simon says the police used his visit to a Massage Centre to accuse him of soliciting prostitution. They framed me up to say i solicited prostitutes. Simon says he was accused of being a british spy, then tortured. He says he was restrained in a device known as a tiger chair. Seen here in videos from chinese social media. When simon was released, he fled to the uk and has now been granted asylum. In london, he set up an organisation to help others whove left hong kong. Today, his house is on a special Police Protection register and hes constantly looking over his shoulder.
to a massage centre to accuse him of soliciting prostitution. they framed me up to say i solicited prostitutes. simon says he was accused of being a british spy, then tortured. he says he was restrained in a device known as a tiger chair. ..seen here in videos from chinese social media. when simon was released, he fled to the uk and has now been granted asylum. in london, he set up an organisation to help others who ve left hong kong. today, his house is on a special police protection register and he s constantly looking over his shoulder. the chinese embassy in london didn t answer panorama s questions about simon cheng. my name isjohn culver. i was an analyst specialising on east asia for the central intelligence agency. it s gotten more like classic cold war. for decades, chinese intelligence was fairly casual, not very aggressive, and that s changed progressively over 20 years and especially over the last decade. so, we re seeing more what i would call classic spycraft. c
two weeks later, simon thinks he s being followed again. around the same time, simon receives an anonymous e mail. its title chinese agents will find you and bring you back. simon cheng is one of the leading figures in the hong kong democracy movement. four years ago, he was working at the british consulate and was asked to monitor escalating protests. weeks later, he vanished during a consulate trip to mainland china. simon says the police used his visit to a massage centre to accuse him of soliciting prostitution. they framed me up to say i solicited prostitutes. simon says he was accused of being a british spy, then tortured. he says he was restrained in a device known as a tiger chair. ..seen here in videos from chinese social media. when simon was released, he fled to the uk and has now been granted asylum. in london, he set up an organisation to help others who ve left hong kong. today, his house is on a special police protection register and he s constantly looking
if you re trying to pick up cellphone transmissions or understand communication patterns, then i could theoretically see where the balloon could be a useful platform for that. the balloon appeared to be equipped to do just that. according to the us state department, it had multiple antennas, likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications. corey s research shows that at one point the spy balloon was only around 80 miles from an air force base in montana which houses nuclear missiles. i am sitting in my driveway and this thing is up- in the sky. it s been there, stationary, i for about the last 35 minutes. the chinese embassy says this was an isolated event. but working with corey, panorama has uncovered evidence about more spy balloons. first, corey found four
looks like on the day of the launch there was cloud cover. and if i were going to launch a balloon, i would ve chosen a cloudy day to do that in order to minimise the chance of detection. china claimed the balloon was a civilian airship used for scientific research such as meteorology. the balloon that we saw was not a weather balloon. it s far larger with a lot more complexity. in terms of the payload package, it s very large. you know, it s been compared to multiple school buses. the balloon is suspected to have been gathering what s known as signals intelligence. if you re trying to pick up cellphone transmissions or understand communication patterns, then i could theoretically see where the balloon could be a useful platform for that. the balloon appeared to be equipped to do just that. according to the us