The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the CIA on Tuesday for publishing videos urging Communist Party officials to defect and work with America, threatening to “take all necessary steps” to stop American intelligence operations against Beijing.
The Foreign Ministry was responding to a the CIA publishing a video on the social media site Twitter last week encouraging Chinese government officials, in Mandarin, to consider working with American intelligence. The video suggests to Chinese officials that loyalty to the Communist Party does not keep them safe from genocidal dictator Xi Jinping’s many purges of potential rivals or dissenting voices and that working with the CIA could help them protect their families.
The video invited Chinese officials to work with the CIA in “creating a better future” for the world and their families, highlighting the fictional story of a Communist Party officials who finds that securing a high rank was “insufficient to protect his family in these turbulent and unsettling times.”
“My purpose remains the same. Only my path has changed. No matter what my fate may bring, my family will know a good life,” one fictionalized defector says.
Another adds: “The party raised us to believe that our dedication to the path they lead us on would bring prosperity to us all. But the gains of our collective efforts are indulged by a select few. So, I must forge my own path.”
The CIA published the video on May 1, a communist holiday known as “International Workers’ Day.”
The success of these recruitment efforts remains to be seen, though one anonymous CIA official told Reuters last week, “if it weren’t working, we wouldn’t be making more videos.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian expressed great offense at the video when asked to common on Tuesday, the first day following the end of China’s week-long May Day communist celebrations.
“The U.S. has long been using all kinds of despicable methods to steal other countries’ secrets, interfere in their internal affairs and commit subversion,” Lin declared. “Such behavior severely violates international law and basic norms governing international relations, and seriously endangers international security and stability.”
“The U.S. not only maliciously smears and attacks China, but also blatantly attempts to lure Chinese personnel, even government officials, to be their informants,” he continued. “This is a serious infringement on China’s national interest and pure political provocation. China strongly condemns it.”
Lin concluded that China would “take all measures necessary to resolutely push back infiltration and sabotage activities from overseas and defend national sovereignty, security and development interest.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, naturally, did not address the extensive recent evidence of covert Chinese espionage globally, and in America in particular, when condemning overt efforts by the CIA. From establishing illegal secret police stations in a large number of foreign capitals to infiltrating sensitive American sites, Beijing is one of the world’s most active and aggressive intelligence-gathering states.
In 2023, American officials revealed that they had uncovered over 100 attempts by Chinese nationals to enter sensitive American sites, including missiles ranges and the Kennedy Space Center. Chinese nationals were also identified suspiciously scuba diving near military sites in Florida, reports at the time indicated.
That say year, the Department of Justice arrested two Chinese nationals, and accused dozens of others, of establishing a secret police branch in New York City.
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace denounced at the time. Human rights researchers found evidence of similar illegal police operations by the Chinese Communist Party throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
More recently, in April, Chinese national Ming Xi Zhang was convicted after being arrested by ICE agents in Newark, New Jersey, of illegally acting as a Chinese foreign agent.
Beijing’s complaints about the CIA video follow a turbulent beginning of the year for U.S.-Chinese relations, as President Donald Trump has initiated a process to rethink America’s trade relationship with the world. As part of that initiative, Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every trade partner, requesting talks to agree to deals more favorable to the American people. According to the White House, China is the lone holdout refusing to negotiate, resulting in China facing a 145-percent tariff on exports to America.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian insisted on Monday that China would continue to “fight” America’s attempts to defend its industries.
“There are no winners in tariff and trade wars, and if the US side really wants to solve the problem through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop threatening and pressuring,” Lin asserted, “and engage in dialogue with China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit.”
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping is expected to travel to Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday to attend ceremonies celebrating the end of World War II and for private discussions with strongman Vladimir Putin, one of China’s closest allies. While Chinese state media has not named the U.S. tariffs as a topic of discussion, the two are expected to discuss their joint response to the Trump administration’s attempts to create a fairer trade environment and to end Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which China has supported despite its previously friendly relations with Kyiv.
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