China Detains Military Worker Accused of Spying for CIA

Chinese military delegates arrive at the Great Hall of the People before the third plenary session of China's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing on March 12, 2015. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

China’s Ministry of State Security announced on Friday that a military-industrial worker had been detained for allegedly passing sensitive information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

State-run media reported that “compulsory measures” have been taken against the alleged spy, and the case has been turned over to the prosecutors.

According to the statement, “Zeng,” 52, was recruited in Italy, where he had gone for studies. There, he allegedly met a CIA agent stationed at a U.S. Embassy in Rome and was recruited.

Chinese authorities allege the Chinese national gave sensitive information to the CIA in exchange for “a huge amount of compensation” and assistance to immigrate to the United States.

The state-controlled CCTV reported that Mr. Zeng signed an espionage agreement and received training before he returned to China, where he carried out espionage duties. The Chinese tabloid Global Times reported that the CIA agent’s name was “Seth” and that Mr. Zeng had been recruited over the course of outings, such as dinner parties and operas.

“Seth took advantage of this to instill Western values into Zeng. Under Seth’s solicitation, Zeng’s political stance was shaken,” Global Times reported.

“Zeng agreed and signed an espionage agreement with the US side and accepted the assessment and training from the US. After his studies abroad, Zeng returned to China and continued to meet secretly with CIA personnel many times, providing a large amount of China’s core information to the US and collecting espionage funds from the CIA,” the report said.

Reports did not specify when the recruitment took place.

The Epoch Times contacted the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for comment.

Beijing’s Counterespionage Push

In early August, China’s Ministry of State Security said all Chinese citizens should join counterespionage work and report suspicious activity.

The agency opened a WeChat account and made the announcement as its first post, making the recommendation for this reporting system that would normalize citizen spying through rewards.

In July, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) revised anti-espionage law took effect, dramatically broadening the definition of espionage in a move that outsiders view as a means to further target foreign individuals and companies in China.

Passing state secrets to an espionage organization or foreign entity is no longer the limit of the definition, as “other documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests” given to “key information infrastructure” is also considered espionage.

Japanese media was among the first to raise concerns, as a Japanese pharmaceutical executive was arrested months earlier from Astellas Pharmaceuticals’ Beijing office, startling the Japanese business community.

Mr. Huang, an executive of a foreign company in Hong Kong, told The Epoch Times on April 27 that the revision of the CCP’s anti-espionage law may have a greater impact on companies and employees in three types of businesses.

First, accounting businesses that investigate or review capital hold sensitive information and are at risk, he said. “The second is the investment analysis report companies. The third is enterprises that have cooperation or economic and trade exchanges in medical biotechnology and software in China.”

Mr. Huang said most Western countries have national security and anti-terrorism laws, but the Chinese regime does not abide by the rules-based international order. Instead, it has a socialist legal system incompatible with most international laws “because the CCP’s legal operations often violate human rights, foreign companies, and their employees will be very worried.”

China’s Large Spy Network in US

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, has warned that the Ministry of State Security is “far larger” than the CIA and has extensive operations on United States soil.

On Aug. 3, federal prosecutors arrested two U.S. Navy sailors for allegedly passing sensitive military information to China.

Wei Jinchao, who also goes by Patrick Wei, had been working on the USS Essex and communicated with a Chinese intelligence officer, who tasked him with sending photos, videos, and documents concerning Navy ships and systems, in exchange for thousands of dollars, according to the Justice Department.

“Thomas” Zhao Wenheng had also taken bribes in exchange for recording and sending photos, videos, and other information to a Chinese intelligence officer over nearly two years, according to U.S. officials.

FBI Counterintelligence Division Assistant Director Suzanne Turner said the arrests are “a reminder of the relentless, aggressive efforts of the People’s Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it.”

The Ministry of State Security is China’s main intelligence gathering and anti-spy arm, which Mr. Gallagher described as “a kind of domestic secret police within China.”

Mr. Gallagher pointed to FBI research that showed the Chinese regime steals $225 billion to $600 billion in U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets each year, not just tech but also sensitive agriculture intellectual property.

“The CCP has long worked to undermine American agriculture and dominate the global food supply—whether it’s stealing valuable seeds directly from the ground, quietly buying up our farmland, or through their deceptive trade practices,” he said.

“I think it’s fair to say we let our guard down. For the last two decades, we got complacent, and we slowly, far too slowly, woke up to the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” he told Fox News.

Dorothy Li contributed to this report.