China issued a stern warning on Tuesday, pledging a crackdown on "infiltration and sabotage" by foreign entities, days after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency released provocative recruitment videos explicitly targeting Chinese officials. Beijing labeled the videos, distributed via social media, a direct threat to its national security.
"The U.S. not only maliciously smears and attacks China, but also blatantly deceives and lures Chinese personnel to turn to its side, and even directly targets Chinese government officials," said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry. He characterized the CIA's tactics as "a serious violation of China's national interests and a naked political provocation."
The controversial CIA videos portray fictional scenarios where disillusioned Chinese government officials voluntarily approach American intelligence agents to share classified information. CIA Director John Ratcliffe described these recruitment videos as "just one of many ways that we're adjusting our tradecraft at the CIA."
China framed the release of these videos as evidence of longstanding U.S. espionage efforts. Lin stated that the CIA's actions constituted a "damning confession" that the agency employs "various despicable methods to steal secrets of other countries, interfere in other countries' internal affairs and undermine other countries' political power."
The latest friction emerges amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington, with each side increasingly accusing the other of espionage. China's State Security Ministry recently publicized a case involving a government employee arrested for attempting to sell state secrets after making contact with an undisclosed foreign spy agency via email.
Additionally, Chinese authorities accused three alleged U.S. agents of carrying out cyberattacks during February's Asian Winter Games in Harbin. Earlier this year, the Ministry of State Security announced the sentencing to death of a former engineer found guilty of leaking state secrets to an unidentified foreign entity.
The CIA's recruitment push comes as part of a broader effort to recruit informants in countries deemed "hard targets" by U.S. intelligence-namely China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Last October, the CIA began openly advertising secure methods for potential informants within these nations to contact U.S. intelligence, a strategy it said had already yielded success in Russia.
Beijing vowed to respond forcefully to the CIA's moves. Lin emphasized China's resolve to take "necessary measures to resolutely crack down on the infiltration and sabotage activities of foreign anti-China forces," reiterating the nation's commitment to safeguarding "national sovereignty, development and security interests."
