GT Investigates: Behind US' Espionage Campaign: How Does CIA Recruit Spies Targeting China?

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s new China mission center and its purportedly recruitment of Chinese-speaking agents, have caught the attention of the Chinese public.

Regarding China as one of its largest rivals and threats, the US seemingly makes no secret of its attempts to infiltrate and subvert China in the intelligence battlefield, although its ability has been frequently questioned.

Starting from 2010, CIA sources in China "began disappearing", The New York Times said in an article in March 2018, referring to the network of CIA spies in China as "a devastating intelligence failure." The setting up of the "China mission centre" also reflects the CIA's previous defeat in China-related operations, observers said.

Observers noted that the establishment by the CIA of a China mission centre to conduct various types of intelligence work and covert operations indicates that the US has consistently identified China as a primary strategic target.

"The establishment of this centre is sort of consistent with the US needs to maintain its own hegemony. The US hopes to strengthen the CIA's intelligence capability in China which should arouse our vigilance", Li Wei, an expert on national security at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

However, Li also pointed out that the current attempt by the US to conduct espionage activities in China will not succeed, especially with the continuous improvement of the law and policies on counterespionage and the increasing security awareness of the Chinese people. China has the confidence and ability to resist subversion and infiltration attempts by the US and other foreign forces.

Recruiting Spies Among Chinese

The CIA caught the attention of Chinese netizens this week for the reported recruitment of Chinese-speaking agents who understand Putonghua and some dialects like Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hakka.

On Twitter-like Weibo, users flooded the account of the US Embassy in China. They criticised the US as "brazen", and made jokes saying that the CIA should also include the dialects of their hometowns in their recruitment.

FILE - In this April 14, 2016 file photo, a Chinese national flag flutters against the office buildings in Shanghai, China

© AP Photo / Andy Wong

The recruitment of the US intelligence community is not as complicated or mysterious as the public might think. The CIA's website is available for candidates to submit their job applications and those who scan the site will not miss the agency's tempting words on its recruitment page.

The Chinese community in the US is the main target of CIA recruitment. In February 2003 it launched an advertisement campaign to recruit Chinese-Americans as spies and analysts, publishing ads on "some Asian-oriented publications and newspapers in cities with large Chinese-American communities", the Washington Times reported.

"We are equally working on our mission to safeguard America and its people. You, too, can play a key role in this important responsibility", read an ad and applicants must be willing to take a lie-detector test, according to the Washington Times.

The CIA also actively seeks potential agents online and in person, said Chinese government officials and national security experts reached by the Global Times. It mainly targets Chinese students in the US who are likely to go to governmental departments or participate in the core business of the enterprises that hire them after returning to China, said Qing Ting (pseudonym), a former government staff in East China's Zhejiang Province who was engaged in counterintelligence work.

"It tends to approach those who appear to have a 'right [-wing] mindset,'" Qing told the Global Times.

A 2017 article by US journalist and writer Daniel Golden titled How Spy Agencies Use American Universities to Secretly Recruit Students revealed that the US intelligence agencies develop sources among international students faculty and send them home as American agents. In a 2012 poll of staff at US universities who work with international students, "31 percent reported the FBI had visited students within the past year," wrote Golden.

During the anti-extradition bill unrest in Hong Kong, the CIA or its sponsored organisations also got close to some Hong Kong students, instigating them into secessionist and violent acts, Qing added. "It attempted to incite a 'color revolution' in Hong Kong," he said.

Li pointed out that intelligence agencies like the CIA often use the lure of profit and the threat of family safety to recruit Chinese officials and technicians as spies.

This April 13, 2016 file photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

© AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster

For example, in April 2016, CCTV's show Focus Interview disclosed a case in which Huang Yu, a computer professional who worked in China in a classified research unit responsible for cryptographic research and development, was tempted with a $10,000 bonus and a $5,000 monthly salary to provide more than 150,000 pieces of information to other countries' intelligence organisations, including 90 top state secrets and expressed his willingness to work for the agency for at least five years. He was eventually sentenced to death for espionage, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated funds for espionage.

A staff member surnamed Geng, who worked in a representative office of a state-owned enterprise abroad was threatened by local security officials with the lives of his family members outside the country.

They turned Geng into a spy while he was working abroad in 2007, manipulating him to gather information about China's defence and military research and his company's local presence abroad and asked him to continue spying when he returned to China. Geng was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2016.

Li noted that the notorious US intelligence agency has brought great political unrest and social instability to many countries by recruiting spies and infiltrating many non-governmental organisations and individuals. For example, behind the outbreak of "colour revolutions" in many countries, there are traces of CIA's interference.

"In fact, the CIA also had a premeditated plan to launch a 'colour revolution' in China with a kind of tactical operation. On one hand, they want to steal intelligence, and on the other, create false rumours to herd public opinion offensive to smear China, but thankfully, most of their plots ended in failure", Li said.

'People's War' Against Espionage

Responding to the CIA's recruitment of Chinese-speaking agents, Jun Zhengping Studio, a commentary session run by the PLA Daily, said on Weibo earlier this month that the Chinese people must never slacken efforts in safeguarding national security.

"No cunning fox can beat a good hunter", it said, calling for a "people's war" to defeat American espionage, adding that "to maintain national security, we only need to trust the people and rely on the people. We need Chaoyang Qunzhong."

Chaoyang Qunzhong, or the masses of Beijing's Chaoyang district, was dubbed by Chinese netizens as "the fifth information organisation" together with the CIA and the UK's MI6. It consists of more than 140,000 volunteers who help maintain street order or give a hand to those in need, reported Hubei-based news outlet Jimu News on October 23.

"Each time I meet a stranger [near the residential community], I ask 'What are you doing here?' or 'Whom are you looking for?'" a Chaoyang Qunzhong volunteer told Jimu News.

Surveillance

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"Generally, the Chinese government does not intentionally set anti-espionage organisations at the grass-roots," Qing said. "Most of time, people voluntarily report clues of suspicious people they encounter", he added.

"With a strong sense of patriotism, the Chinese people naturally keep a watchful eye on [potential enemy]", Qing told the Global Times.

China is constantly improving the country's anti-espionage system from legal and policy perspectives. It passed a law on counterespionage in 2014 and a law on national security in 2015 emphasising the need for and importance of fighting foreign espionage.

In 2017, the Beijing government encouraged the public to report on spies by publishing a new reward scheme. Any successful tip-offs will give tipsters cash payments of up to 500,000 yuan ($78,150), according to the Beijing State Security Bureau.

This year, China rolled out a new anti-espionage regulation in April, which allows the national security authority to draw up lists of companies and organisations that are susceptible to foreign infiltration, and require listed institutes to adopt security measures to prevent foreign infiltration.

The increased awareness of the Chinese public to safeguard national security, the deterrence and punishment against espionage through legislation, the increase in China's national strength and the efficient operation of counterintelligence agencies have made a series of US intelligence activities against China fail in the past, including its use of spies from other countries to conduct intelligence activities in our country, Li said.

"The US will not give up its spying operations against China just because of their failure but I believe that the Chinese government and people are fully capable of responding effectively and forcefully", Li noted.

This article was originally published by the Global Times