Both cases were published on the ministry’s new WeChat account as China and the US strengthen their respective counter-intelligence efforts.
In the most recent statement, the MSS said that while applying for a US visa as a student in Japan, Hao met Taide – the Chinese translation of Ted – an official at the US embassy in Japan.
“Ted gradually established a close relationship with Hao through dinners, gifts, etc, and asked Hao to help write papers, promising to pay a fee,” the announcement said.
At the end of his tenure, Ted introduced his colleague Li Jun to Hao. Hao and Li Jun continued to work together, the ministry added.
The report said: “Before the end of Hao’s study abroad, Li Jun confessed that he was a member of the Tokyo station of the CIA and recruited Hao, asking Hao to work in the core units of our country. Hao agreed, signed a spy agreement with the US, and accepted examinations and training”.
According to the statement, Hao began working in an unnamed ministry after returning to his home country and met CIA personnel in China on several occasions to provide information and receive espionage fees.
The ministry said it had discovered Hao’s spy activities and was now investigating.
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And in the United States, the House of Representatives said on August 2 it would investigate China’s alleged involvement in intrusions into US Commerce and State Department email systems.
On July 20, CIA Director William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum the agency’s intelligence network in China had “made progress” in rebuilding its spy networks in China after suffering significant losses a decade ago.
Beijing responded by saying it would take “all necessary” countermeasures to safeguard national security.
