100 Places You Will Never Visit (26 page)

China undertook the construction of its naval base at Hainan away from the glare of publicity, despite the fact that it lies just a few miles from the popular tourist city of Sanya. Beijing has so far refused to elaborate on what purpose its base will serve but the respected Janes Intelligence Review, which first confirmed the base’s existence, concluded that it could be used for “expeditionary as well as defensive operations.”

The complex includes a harbor large enough to accommodate nuclear-armed submarines as well as aircraft carriers, with piers extending almost 1,000 meters (3,300 ft). Even more intriguingly, as many as 11 tunnels are built into the surrounding hillsides, with entrances around 20 meters (66 ft) high. It has been suggested that these tunnels could provide space to house up to 20 nuclear submarines out of view of passing spy satellites. Furthermore, waters are as deep as 5,000 meters (16,500 ft) within a few miles of Hainan, allowing vessels to dive quickly to depths where they would be virtually impossible to detect.

The Hainan facility, it seems, will give China a strategic base from which it can wield greater influence over the South China Sea shipping lanes, which are crucial for the oil and mineral imports that drive the Chinese economy. It could also provide China with increased opportunity to build its military presence around the disputed Spratly and Paracel Island groups, with the added incentive to Beijing of serving to unnerve Taiwan.

The Spratly and Paracel archipelagos have been at the center of disputes over sovereignty for centuries, but the competition to secure influence has heated up in recent decades, involving not only China and Taiwan but Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines too. The disputes are less concerned with the islands themselves and more with their territorial waters, which are believed to contain vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Some commentators have also suggested that Hainan could quite feasibly support Chinese plans for a “blue-water” naval presence stretching far beyond the South China Sea.

1 MONSTER OF THE DEEP A nuclear-powered submarine of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, pictured in 2009. The potential riches in the waters around Asia have led to a massive expansion of the continent’s submarine fleets as nations vie to establish their sovereignty over the sea.

2 HARBORING AMBITIONS An aerial view of the impressive architecture on display at the Hainan base. It has clearly been built to accommodate serious naval hardware and has attracted the concerned attention of several of China’s regional competitors.

89 The Tomb of Genghis Khan

LOCATION Assumed to be in the Khentii Province of eastern Mongolia

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Ulan Bator

SECRECY OVERVIEW Location uncertain: last resting place of the legendary Mongol leader.

Given the name Temujin at birth, Genghis Khan went on to unite disparate nomadic tribes to establish the Mongol Empire, winning himself a reputation as one of history’s most feared warriors in the process. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the utmost secrecy: the location of his tomb remains one of history’s enduring conundrums, despite numerous attempts to find it.

Temujin was in his mid-40s by the time he became leader of the Mongols in the early 13th century. During his reign, he laid the foundations for a vast empire that would eventually stretch from China to Hungary, taking a title, Genghis Khan, that struck fear into the hearts of both subjects and rivals. But he was more than a bloodthirsty tyrant, introducing a written language system and doing much to bring the cultures of East and West together.

He died in 1227, aged around 65. The exact cause of his death is disputed, with explanations ranging from a riding accident to illness to sexual misadventure. Regardless, it was his wish to be buried in secret in accordance with tribal custom, his resting place to remain unmarked. To this end, extraordinary and infamous precautions were undertaken. Legend has it that members of his funeral escort slaughtered any person unfortunate enough to stray across their path. The slaves who built the tomb were murdered once it was completed so that they could not divulge its location, and the soldiers who killed them were in turn dispatched. It is said that the ground was then trampled by horses, planted with trees and even had a river diverted over it to hide the tomb entrance.

Debate rages as to the location of the emperor’s body. Many believe that it is probably in Mongolia’s Khentii Province, perhaps close to the sacred Burkhan Kaldun mountain where Temujin was born. In 2004, an archaeological team claimed to have found his long-lost palace in this region, which many experts assume would have been close to his final resting place. In another recent project, Dr. Albert Yu-Min Lin of the University of California at San Diego has attempted to harness the power of an army of internet enthusiasts, to analyze satellite images of Khentii.

Yet the grave remains elusive and that is no doubt what Genghis Khan would want. According to Mongolian tradition, as long as his tomb is left undisturbed his soul will be kept protected.

1 OUT THERE SOMEWHERE The expansive plains of Mongolia offer tomb-seekers plenty of opportunity for speculative searching. Serious researchers, though, are increasingly utilizing high-tech imaging technology and the goodwill of internet archaeologists in a bid to narrow down the search area.

2 FEARED LEADER This 14th-century portrait of Genghis Khan hangs in Taiwan’s National Palace Museum in Taipei. Scientific studies have concluded that as many as 2.5 percent of all the men alive today can trace their lineage back to the prolific warrior.

90 Chinese Information Security Base

LOCATION Beijing, China

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Beijing

SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: China’s front line in the age of cyber warfare.

Ever since the rise of the internet, futurologists have predicted that where wars were once fought on battlefields and won with gunfire, they will one day be fought in the cyberworld against a backdrop of mouse clicks. In 2010, China seemed to signal the approach of this new age when it announced the establishment of a government-run cyber defense base.

There are those who argue convincingly that we are already living in a world of cyber wars, where lapses in electronic security are exploited for commercial, political or even military advantage. For instance, it has been widely speculated that the Stuxnet virus that infiltrated Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010 originated in Israel. India has also claimed that some of its government networks have been hit from Chinese bases. But it has so far been impossible to prove whether such attacks stemmed from the concerted efforts of government agencies, or from groups or individuals with their own agendas. The maverick actions of hacker collectives such as Anonymous and Lulzsec has further clouded the issue.

However, in 2009 the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission concluded that “there has been a marked increase in cyber intrusions originating in China and targeting US government and defense-related systems.” In turn, China has accused the White House of waging its own cyber attacks, a claim vehemently denied in Washington.

In truth, many of the world’s most powerful nations are developing cyber warfare divisions within their armed services. Washington established its US Cyber Command unit in 2009 to counteract online criminal and espionage activity. But the announcement by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army a year later that it had set up an Information Security Base, under the jurisdiction of the powerful General Staff headquarters in Beijing, ramped up the sense of tension.

The announcement’s lack of even the most basic details about the base and its operations did little to steady nerves, though a Chinese spokesman insisted that “it is a ‘defensive’ base for information security, not an offensive headquarters for cyber war.” Just don’t expect to be able to take a tour around its headquarters to decide for yourself any time soon.

91 Room 39

LOCATION Pyongyang, North Korea

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Pyongyang

SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: the secretive financial hub responsible for maintaining North Korea’s ruling elite.

Sometimes also referred to as Bureau 39, North Korea’s Room 39 has been described by journalist Kelly Olsen as “one of the most secret organizations in arguably the world’s most secretive state.” Analysts believe it raises funds for the governing regime through a mixture of legal and illegal enterprises. Much of the money it produces is allegedly used to buy the ongoing support of senior officials.

Established sometime in the late 1970s, Room 39 is believed to be housed in the ruling Workers’ Party Building in the Central Committee precinct, located in downtown Pyongyang. From here, a central staff of around 130 people coordinates international operations. Their activities have been likened to those of an international investment bank—although much of the work “on the ground” is left to local and relatively small-scale criminal gangs. The principal aim of Room 39 is to provide a stash of hard currency for the personal use of senior government figures. Until his death in 2011, it was essentially the personal slush fund of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

It is estimated that Room 39 generates between half a billion and a billion dollars each year through various illegal enterprises. Among the illegitimate businesses it is supposedly involved in are the counterfeiting of bank notes, money laundering, exporting fake cigarettes and pharmaceuticals, and smuggling narcotics (especially heroin and crystal methamphetamine). Other areas of its business are ostensibly legitimate (ranging from overseas restaurant chains to mining and agricultural operations) though few are untainted by the claims of money laundering. Room 39 keeps a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, with interests in at least a hundred overseas trading companies. Pyongyang, however, denies that it is party to any irregular activities.

Kim Jong-il was said to have used the cash generated by Room 39 to lavish gifts upon key figures within his cabinet, the ruling Workers’ Party and the military. It is alleged that he spent millions each year on high-end consumer goods including cognac, luxury cars and the latest electronic items in order to secure his power base. Other money, it has been suggested, was used to prop up his spending on nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs.

FAKE BENJAMINS The “superdollar” (counterfeit hundred-dollar bill) was in worldwide circulation by the late 1980s. Expertly produced, these forgeries replicate many of the security features employed by genuine currency. While the finger of blame has pointed in several directions, North Korea’s Room 39 is thought mostly likely to be behind the scheme.

One of Room 39’s most successful scams has been the counterfeiting of US currency. For many years, the US government has been aware of the widespread circulation of so-called “superdollars”—fake US$100 bills of such high quality that only sophisticated laboratory testing can expose them. These notes are smuggled across international boundaries to be laundered, leaving the North Korean regime with huge volumes of genuine currency. Estimates of the value of Room 39-created superdollars vary from around US$45 million to several hundred million dollars.

The international community, and the United States in particular, has long grappled to confront the threat from Room 39. For instance, in 2004 Austria—under pressure from Washington—closed down the North Korean-owned Golden Star Bank in Vienna, which was suspected of participating in laundering. Even more significantly, a year later the Banco Delta Asia in Macao (a Chinese dependency) was labeled by the US Treasury as a “primary money-laundering concern” and US$25 million of assets linked to Kim were frozen.

Another important money-making scheme was large-scale insurance fraud, which came to prominence after the international community moved to undermine Pyongyang’s counterfeiting operations. According to evidence from North Korean defectors, the state-owned Korean National Insurance Company (KNIC) was highly active in selling on its insurance liabilities to companies in other parts of the world. It is then alleged that, under the guidance of Room 39, major accidents were faked. One cited example was a helicopter crashing into a government warehouse in the capital city. Ferry and rail disasters are also alleged to have been set up. KNIC would then pick up multi-million dollar pay-outs from foreign companies that had bought its liabilities. It is believed that this scam has brought in US$50–60 million per year.

In a country that consistently runs massive trade deficits, Room 39 went a long way to making the Kim clan’s largesse possible and maintaining its “court economy,” a system that protects government funding despite the failure of North Korea’s traditional economy. Just how the 2011 death of Kim Jong-il and the succession of his son Kim Jong-un will affect the future of Room 39 remains to be seen.

1 SHOW OF MIGHT The vast Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang was inaugurated in 1954, and is large enough to host rallies of several hundred thousand people. Here troops march past the Worker’s Party Building, which is adorned with a giant image of Kim, North Korea’s founding father.

92 Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center

LOCATION North Pyongan Province, North Korea

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Kaechon

SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: the heart of North Korea’s controversial nuclear program.

The Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center has been a source of friction between North Korea and the international community ever since it began operating in the 1980s. North Korea’s refusal to submit to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has led to several standoffs with the wider world, which is keen to establish Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.

While North Korea is quite within its legal rights to foster a nuclear program for civilian purposes, the international community (and most of all South Korea, with whom North Korea has never signed a formal peace treaty to end the war of 1950–53) fear that the real focus of such a program is inevitably on manufacturing weapons.

Yongbyon lies within a mountain clearing in North Pyongan province, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Pyongyang. The center includes a five-megawatt reactor and a fuel reprocessing facility, where weapons-grade plutonium can be extracted from spent fuel rods. Yongbyon’s history has closely followed the changing fortunes of the international talks designed to steer Pyongyang away from a nuclear weapons program.