"Damning Confession": China Expresses Outrage Over CIA Recruitment Ads

The Chinese government on Tuesday belatedly responded to the CIA releasing a pair of videos last week which encourage officials in China to leak secrets to the United States. The timing of this spat is sensitive given of course the ratcheting trade war in the wake of Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, with Beijing being the biggest punitive target.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson blasted the videos as clear evidence of the CIA "stealing" other countries' secrets, and a "damning confession" of how US intelligence operates.

"The US 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," spokesperson Lin Jian told a daily press briefing

"This is a serious violation of China's national interests and a naked political provocation," the condemnation added. The CIA has not just targeted China with invitations to spy posted to its official social media channels, but last year similar videos were made focusing on luring Russians. North Korea and Iran have also been targets of CIA recruitment. 

As for these new China-focused efforts, the CIA on Thursday released two high quality social media Mandarin-language videos across several online platforms. The 'mini-movies' are clearly well-produced cinematic vids that a lot of planning and thought went into.

CIA leadership has not been shy about publicizing its aims. "Today, the CIA released Mandarin-language videos aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets," CIA Director John Ratcliffe said last week of the videos. He has vowed to make China a top priority for the agency's intelligence gathering. 

Beijing has meanwhile been publicizing its own efforts to crackdown on potential US-sponsored espionage:

Last month, China's state security ministry publicized the case of a government employee selling state secrets, secretly recording internal meetings and stealing confidential files, after reaching out to a foreign spy agency via email.

The employee was caught before she could leave the country, the ministry said in a video posted to its social media account. It did not name the foreign intelligence agency.

As for the videos, one of them features a narrator saying in Mandarin, "It’s all too common for someone to suddenly vanish without a trace. What I fear most is that my family’s fate is tied to my own. I must prepare an escape route."

A second video focuses more on the youth and the corrupt, luxurious lifestyle of Chinese bosses. It then encourages those who want to see serious change to reach out to the CIA.

Both videos actually end with scenes of the Chinese protagonists reaching out to the CIA on the agency’s website via secure apps, according to agency instructions.

Nikkei Asia meanwhile observed that the campaign "has been met with derision in China" given also that "the clips are narrated in what some viewers described as awkward Mandarin." Chinese government officials, however, likely just got a little more paranoid.

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Meanwhile, the hits can go both ways...