BEIJING (Reuters) – China warned on Tuesday it would take necessary measures to crack down on “infiltration and sabotage activities of foreign anti-China forces”, days after the CIA released videos aimed at enticing Chinese officials to leak secrets to the U.S.
The U.S. intelligence agency last week posted two short Chinese-language videos to its social media accounts depicting fictional scenes in which a senior Chinese official and a more junior government worker with access to classified information become disillusioned with China’s system and approach the CIA.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called the videos a “damning confession” of the CIA’s efforts in “stealing” other countries’ secrets.
“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,” spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press briefing when asked about the videos.
“This is a serious violation of China’s national interests and a naked political provocation.”
Beijing’s warning came as the two countries vow to step up counterintelligence efforts amid mutual accusations of espionage.
Last month, China’s state security ministry publicised 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.
In October, the CIA launched a drive to recruit new informants in China, Iran and North Korea by posting instructions online on how to securely contact the agency, following what it said was successful efforts to enlist Russians.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are known within the U.S. intelligence community as “hard targets” – countries whose governments are difficult to penetrate.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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