China slams US, claims to have uncovered another spying case

A Chinese national who worked for a defence institute was charged with espionage for the United States, according to China’s top spy agency, and his case was moved to a Chengdu court for trial.

The incident is the most recent to highlight Beijing’s increased dedication to national security, its strengthened anti-spying regulations, and its campaign against internal corruption.

A man with the last name Hou who worked at an unnamed defence institute was sent to a U.S. university in 2013 as a visiting scholar, according to a story on CCTV, where he was forced to divulge Chinese state secrets.

In a statement posted alongside the article on its WeChat social media account on Sunday, China’s Ministry of State Security stated that “espionage activities go hand in hand with deception, temptation, and conspiracy.”

In the announcement or media story, the university was not mentioned.

According to CCTV, an American academic close to Hou introduced him to a person who seemed to work for a consulting firm but was actually an American “intelligence officer” using the firm as his cover.

The intelligence officer approached Hou in the following months as their friendship grew, offering him a job as a consulting specialist at “his company” in exchange for payments of $600-$700 every job well done.

A few months later, while Hou’s son and wife were on vacation in the U.S., the American came clean about his genuine motivations and suggested that they rethink how they collaborated. According to CCTV, Hou accepted the conditions out of concern for the safety of his wife and son.

According to the agreement, over the course of numerous meetings, Hou would be requested to divulge highly classified secrets in hour-long sessions in exchange for remuneration of $1,000, according to the report.

After Hou returned to China in 2014, the collaboration continued. While attending seminars around the world, he would meet with American intelligence, according to CCTV. According to the report, he independently provided intelligence data in the areas of national defence and the military industry.

Hou was imprisoned in July as a result of Chinese government investigations.

China has imprisoned and arrested scores of Chinese and foreign nationals in recent years on suspicion of espionage, which has caused the United States to worry about its counter-espionage initiative.

A U.S. citizen who was sentenced to life in prison for espionage earlier this year received new information recently, according to China’s intelligence service.

(With agency inputs)