Is China teeming with CIA spies?

24 August 20239 months ago babelfish

For the second time in ten days, the Chinese government has announced the arrest of a Chinese government employee suspected of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In a statement released on Monday , China's civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), said it had launched an investigation into a government ministry official allegedly caught conducting espionage on behalf of the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.

THE IDENTIKIT OF THE EMPLOYEE SUSPECTED OF SPINING FOR THE CIA

MSS's statement does not mention the government ministry where the alleged spy works. Ma identified the accused by his surname, Hao, describing him as a 39-year-old Chinese citizen. According to the MSS statement, Hao spent several years as a graduate student in Japan. While studying in Japan, he allegedly visited the US Embassy in Tokyo to apply for a travel visa. During his visit to the embassy, he met a US embassy official, who befriended him.

RELATIONSHIP WITH CIA OFFICER FIRST IN JAPAN

Over time, Hao allegedly formed a close relationship with the unnamed US embassy official. The latter offered him meals, sent him gifts by mail and secured him funds to conduct research. Eventually, the embassy official introduced Hao to another American official who, according to the MSS, was a CIA official. The CIA official allegedly recruited Hao to spy for the United States and ordered him to seek employment at "a central and critical department" of the government upon his return to China.

AND AFTER RETURNING TO CHINA

After completing his education in Japan, Hao returned to China and secured employment in a government agency. He continued to meet regularly with his alleged CIA handler and other CIA officers, to whom he "provided information" in exchange for "spy funds," according to the MSS statement. The statement said Hao's case is still under investigation and no official charges have yet been filed.

TEN DAYS AGO ANOTHER ARREST

MSS's statement on Hao's case came exactly ten days after the spy agency posted on its WeChat social media account that it had caught another government official spying for the CIA. On Aug. 11, the MSS said it arrested an alleged CIA spy named Zeng, whom it described as a 52-year-old "staff member of a Chinese military industrial group and a top confidential employee" of the Chinese state. Zeng had reportedly been sent to Italy by his employer, presumably to continue his university studies or receive technical training. While there, he was allegedly approached and eventually recruited by an employee of the US Embassy in Rome.

It is not known whether the two cases are in any way connected. Government officials in Washington and the US embassy in Beijing have not commented on the matter.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/la-cina-pullula-di-spie-della-cia/ on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 07:59:13 +0000.