Espionage involving China

""War in the shadows" between the great powers is not finished.

In other news... sky is blue and water is wet.

Yeah, it's also widely wrong, there were at least two cases off the top of my head - defecting military officers - who were worse.

I would like to start a thread on espionage news involving China. It can involve either Chinese or American spies as long as it relates to China.

I will start with this news:

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese state security official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the United States, sources said, a case both countries have kept quiet for several months as they strive to prevent a fresh crisis in relations.

The official, an aide to a vice minister in China's security ministry, was arrested and detained early this year on allegations that he had passed information to the United States for several years on China's overseas espionage activities, said three sources, who all have direct knowledge of the matter.

The aide had been recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and provided "political, economic and strategic intelligence", one source said, though it was unclear what level of information he had access to, or whether overseas Chinese spies were compromised by the intelligence he handed over...

he aide, detained sometime between January and March, worked in the office of a vice-minister in China's Ministry of State Security, the source said. The ministry is in charge of the nation's domestic and overseas intelligence operations.

He had been paid hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars and spoke English, the source added.

Wow, this sounds like a big deal. How did he conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars for so long?

Great Idea for a thread!.. here's a link to the old thread.

http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/stra...read-3771.html

Originally Posted by Geographer

I would like to start a thread on espionage news involving China. It can involve either Chinese or American spies as long as it relates to China.

I will start with this news:

Wow, this sounds like a big deal. How did he conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars for so long?

Same way how all the corrupted officials in China concealed their money. Plus, hundreds of thousands of dollars is not a lot of money as far as illegal money any given Chinese official can obtain nowadays... People have been known to conceal hundreds of millions of $$.

The guy was arrested at about the same time Bo was taken down and the way things have unfolded since, suggests that he was not a surprise, but simply reeled in when the time was deemed right.
All of this looks like part of a multi pronged move against Security Minister Zhou and another part of a subtle pattern of manoeuvres emanating out of President Hu's office and targeting specific princelings.

There are a lot of strange things going on at the moment, few of which seem to make much sense until you look at the organisations involved and individuals that run them. The putting on hold of that Burmese Dam is a good example. Beijing seemed remarkably relaxed about the development which seemed rather strange until it was pointed out that the company building it was run by the daughter of a very senior ex party leader, strongly associated with the Princeling faction.

Originally Posted by SampanViking

The putting on hold of that Burmese Dam is a good example. Beijing seemed remarkably relaxed about the development which seemed rather strange until it was pointed out that the company building it was run by the daughter of a very senior ex party leader, strongly associated with the Princeling faction.

Ha, according to the news I read, the hold was a major upset for the Chinese government and signs that Burma/Myanmar was trying to break out of a constricting relationship with China. To think that it was just the result of some domestic politics is an interesting take.

Originally Posted by Preux

In other news... sky is blue and water is wet.

Yeah, it's also widely wrong, there were at least two cases off the top of my head - defecting military officers - who were worse.

The official who leaked that the ballistic missiles pointing at Taiwan during the third Taiwan strait crisis were unarmed comes to mind.

Will be funny if the "agent" referred here was merely Wang.

'Pretty woman trap' - BBC

Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily quotes the monthly New Way as saying on 25 May that the official "fell into a pretty woman trap" set up by the CIA.

After the two were photographed in secret liaisons, he was blackmailed and agreed to supply secret information to the US, the reports say.

Another foreign interpretation of what's happening in China. So the Bo scandal and the Chen saga are connected to this now? Why? Because foreigners follow stereotypes that China is one single entity and everything is connected? If that were the case there would be no one arrested for corruption. So a minister is being sacked because someone under his command was a spy? That's what's officially being said which the media is going by nothing else. What the media doesn't tell you because it doesn't work in their favor as a victory for their intelligence services is there is a major govermental transition coming up at the end of the year. The largest since the communist revolution where something like 60% of the government are being pushed out. What happens during these periods is a lot of accusations are made during political in-fighting to get people they don't like out in order to get their people in. Yeah now all of the sudden it's beyond a communist dictatorship to frame someone for a crime they didn't commit. Really why would this information be released unless it's just political? The communist didn't think use this spy to pass false information to the US?

I find the details suspicious. It sounds so cliche. Remember the major coup that was happening in China over the Bo scandal that the media was reporting? What happened to that? The Hong Kong and British media are two peas in a tabloid pod. The only thing I need to hear now is that the woman was a blonde.

Pretty woman trap? That worked to recruit a Chinese spy? Was he fearing divorce through blackmail and as a result the loss of his position?
For a pretty woman trap to work you need a sexual activity that is frowned upon in public or creates tensions in a sexual contract partnership. Which one was it? Because this would tell us a lot about Chinese leadership that is not prostitute/karaoke girls shy.

From my point of view China is a typical East Asian country with a movement rather than a party in power (the phenomena is not limited to, but prevalent in). The difference is that movements are more inclusive and don't need elections, but rather base support on letting people know of the wealth and quality of life achievements and have a claim to upholding traditions and reaching utopia. Within such a group you better be sly because it's all cloaks and daggers and nights of long knives.

Originally Posted by Kurt

For a pretty woman trap to work you need a sexual activity that is frowned upon in public or creates tensions in a sexual contract

That is not required. All that is needed is for the woman to make enough noise so that unwanted attention is focused and an investigation started on him. Officials who have mistresses frequently are corrupt.

Originally Posted by no_name

That is not required. All that is needed is for the woman to make enough noise so that unwanted attention is focused and an investigation started on him. Officials who have mistresses frequently are corrupt.

Almost definitely, can't have a mistress/es without corruption, it applies everywhere