China arrests CIA spy who worked in a ministry. Now a war of spies is underway
The Ministry of State Security, China's top anti-espionage agency, announced on Monday the arrest of an official it suspects is a CIA spy.
The agency said a 39-year-old official named Hao was recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency to become an American spy while studying in Japan. But he did not identify Hao's gender or the ministry he worked for.
China rarely names other organizations or nations publicly, but this is the second alleged espionage case this month in which the ministry directly named the CIA as a recruiting agency.
On Aug. 10, the ministry said it had arrested a 52-year-old employee of a state-owned arms company who had started working for the CIA while studying in Italy. Both cases were posted on the ministry's new WeChat account as China and the United States step up their respective counterintelligence efforts.
In the most recent statement, the ministry said that while applying for a US student visa in Japan, Hao met Taide – the Chinese translation of Ted – an official at the US embassy in Japan.
“Ted gradually established a close relationship with Hao through dinners, gifts, etc. and asked Hao to help him write documents, promising to pay him a fee,” the statement read.
At the end of his term, Ted introduced his colleague Li Jun to Hao. Hao and Li Jun continued to work together, the ministry added.
"Before Hao's overseas study period ended, Li Jun confessed that he was a member of the CIA's Tokyo station and recruited Hao, asking him to work in our country's core units," the ministry said.
"Hao agreed, signed an espionage agreement with the United States, and accepted exams and training."
According to the statement, Hao began working in an undisclosed ministry after returning to his homeland and has met with CIA personnel in China on several occasions to provide intelligence and receive espionage fees.
The ministry said it had discovered Hao's spying activities and was investigating.
On Aug. 1, the ministry urged the public to participate in the "tough and complex" fight against espionage.
This is a war fought hard on both sides. In the United States, the House of Representatives said on Aug. 2 that it would investigate China's alleged involvement in the state and Commerce departments' email system intrusions. On Aug. 3, the US Justice Department said two Navy soldiers had been arrested for "passing sensitive military information to the People's Republic of China."
China must "proactively defend itself" from spies, says the Minister of State Security
CIA Director William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum last month that the agency's intelligence network in China has "made progress" in rebuilding its spy networks in China after suffering significant losses a decade ago.
Beijing responded by saying it would take "all necessary countermeasures" to safeguard national security.
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The article China arrests CIA spy who worked in a ministry. A war of spies is now underway comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-arresta-spia-della-cia-che-lavorava-in-un-ministero-ormai-e-un-corso-una-guerra-di-spie/ on Mon, 21 Aug 2023 18:37:44 +0000.