The tension on the Washington-Beijing line, which has been rising in recent months, has now reached the line stage. In a statement made on the social media account of the Ministry of State Security responsible for intelligence in China, it was claimed that the 39-year-old official, whose surname was stated as “Hao”, was “hired” by the CIA while continuing his education in Japan.
In the statement, it was noted that the official, who did not specify in which ministry he worked, was detained after the espionage activity was noticed, and the investigation against him was continuing.
A Chinese official’s proximity to the USA
In the statement, it was stated that Hao met an American officer named “Ted” at the US Embassy in Tokyo, where he went to apply for a visa when he was a student in Japan.
In the statement, Ted later introduced Hao to his colleague “Li Cün”, who is understood to be of Chinese descent. It has been suggested that he recommends it and encourages him to “work in China’s key institutions”.
In the statement, which alleged that Hao approved the offer and “signed a spy contract” with the United States, and agreed to undergo examinations and training, it was claimed that the suspect, who started working at the unnamed ministry upon his return to China, met with CIA personnel many times in order to convey information and received espionage fees.
The Ministry of State Security detained the 52-year-old employee of the state-owned arms company on suspicion of espionage on August 10, and it was claimed that the suspect started working for the CIA while he was studying in Italy.
It was noteworthy that the ministry’s newly created social media account directly pointed to the CIA in its posts about both cases.
The ministry, in a post on 1 August, stated that espionage activities in the country were “in a grave and complex situation” and called on citizens to support counter-espionage activities.
CIA Director William Burns, in his speech at the Aspen Security Forum in his country last month, stated that the CIA “has made progress in re-establishing its spy network in China” after the serious losses it suffered 10 years ago.
The Beijing administration reacted to the statement by stating that it would “take all kinds of countermeasures to protect national security”. (AA)