Security Ministry Launches Inquiry into Chinese Citizen Accused of Spying for CIA

According to a Monday statement from the state security ministry, China is investigating a person who is reportedly spying for the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The ministry claimed that the 39-year-old Chinese national with the last name Hao was a cadre there and had gone to Japan for academic purposes, where the spying recruitment took place. The gender of Hao was kept a secret.

The announcement came less than two weeks after the ministry claimed to have discovered another citizen who is believed to have been recruited in Italy to spy for the CIA. Requests for comment from Reuters were not immediately answered by the American embassies in Beijing and Tokyo.

According to the ministry, Hao met “Ted” a member of the U.S. embassy staff, while processing a visa application. The ministry claimed that he invited Hao to dinners, gave her gifts, and asked her for assistance in drafting a paper that Ted had agreed to pay for.

Before his tenure at the Japanese embassy came to an end, Ted introduced Hao to a coworker by the name of Li Jun; Li and Hao afterward kept up a “cooperative relationship” according to the ministry.

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Student Enlisted as Spy

Li revealed to be a Tokyo-based CIA agent before Hao finished his studies, “instigated Hao into rebelling” and instructed Hao to go back to China to serve for a “core and critical unit”

Hao signed an espionage agreement accepting US evaluation and training, the statement claims.

The ministry claimed that after his return, Hao worked in a national department “according to the requirements of the CIA” and gave the agency intelligence while being paid by the United States.

National security is only one of the many concerns that have strained ties between the US and China in recent years. Beijing has been charged with espionage and cyberattacks by Washington, which China has denied. China has also claimed that spies are a threat to its security.

Following the expansion of its anti-spying law in July, which alarmed the United States, China this month urged its citizens to take part in counter-espionage activities.

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Source: Reuters