Chinese Authorities Unearth Alleged CIA Operative: Italian-Recruited Chinese National

China has reportedly discovered a Chinese national who worked for a military industrial company and was allegedly given money and travel authorization to the US in exchange for providing the US with critical military intelligence, according to a report on official television on Friday.

According to the CCTV report, Zeng, who was considered a classified person, was transferred to Italy to complete his study and made friends with a representative of the American embassy while there. It was discovered that Zeng had signed an espionage contract with the US.

Zeng had been subject to “compulsory measures,” according to CCTV, but no further information was provided. China has increased the amount of activity it monitors that it considers to be espionage.

The government should encourage its citizens to engage in counterespionage activities, according to a statement made earlier this month by the state security ministry. This includes creating channels for people to report suspicious activity and rewarding and compensating them for their efforts.

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Espionage and Security

According to the ministry, a framework must be put in place that makes it “natural” for the general public to take part in counterspionage. China unveiled a law against espionage last month that forbids the transmission of any data pertaining to national security and interests without defining those terms.

Even though the EU ambassador to China had stated in May that he wasn’t sure whether the opening up of the Chinese economy was compatible with the counter-espionage law, the new regulation frightened the US.

Many Chinese and international citizens have been imprisoned and arrested in China in recent years on suspicion of espionage, including an executive from the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma in March. Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been held since September 2020 under suspicion that China has leaked state secrets to another country.

China has claimed that it is threatened by spies at a time when Western countries, most notably the United States, have accused China of espionage and cyberattacks, which Beijing has denied.

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Source: Arab News