China’s top spy agency said on Monday that it is investigating a senior official who is allegedly spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the second claim in 10 days as the communist regime intensifies its counterintelligence campaign amid unprecedented economic troubles.
A Fabrication
The MSS, which often kept its work secret, provided details about how the government worker became a CIA source.The ministry claimed Hao had become acquainted with a U.S. Embassy official known as “Ted” while sorting out a visa application. Ted allegedly invited the Chinese national for dinners, presented gifts, and sought Hao’s help with writing a paper that Ted promised to pay for, the ministry said. Ted allegedly introduced Hao to a colleague named Li Jun before his term at the embassy in Japan ended, the ministry said; Li and Hao then maintained a “cooperative relationship.”
Before Hao completed his studies, Li allegedly revealed being a Tokyo-based CIA personnel and “instigated Hao into rebelling,” telling Hao to return to China to work for a “core and critical unit.” Hao allegedly signed an espionage agreement, accepting assessment and training from the United States, according to the statement.
The ministry said Hao worked in a national department upon returning, “according to the requirements of the CIA,” and provided the CIA with intelligence while collecting U.S. pay.
Feng Chongyi, a China study academic at the University of Technology Sydney, suspected that what drove officials at the spy agency to publicize the two cases was the desire to please Xi Jinping, China’s paramount leader, who warned that external threats the country is facing have become “more complex.”
“Even if the security agency can’t find a spy, they have to arrest a few to make the situation look this way,” Mr. Feng told The Epoch Times.
A Distraction
Lai Jianping, a former Chinese lawyer and a current affair commentator, linked the recent spy claims to the political instability and economic downturn the CCP faces.“Once the economy collapses, what does the CCP rely on to control the country?” Mr. Lai said. “[The CCP] is now on the verge of collapse.”
He said that to take attention away from the flailing economy at home, the CCP appeared to deploy the strategy of creating an enemy abroad.
Moreover, the existence of American intelligence sources handed the CCP a pretext to tighten ideological control of the public, he added.
The legislation, which was first unveiled on April 26, broadens the definition of espionage to “all documents, data, materials, or items related to national security and interests.” But it doesn’t specify what falls under national security, sparking fears of a more hostile environment for foreign businesses and journalists in China.
The CCP’s leadership then ratcheted up the call for counterespionage work. On July 14, the nation’s spymaster called for officials to support the cause on “covert front lines,” referencing the Party’s intelligence work.
The secretive MSS launched an official account on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. On July 31, it published the first post titled “Anti-Espionage Fight Requires the Mobilization of the Entire Society!”
Mr. Lai said that Beijing’s story about CIA spies might be fabricated. But there is also a possibility that the Chinese national is a U.S. agent, he said, because “the Chinese Communist Party is so bad that some people want to subvert the dictatorship in every way.”
