A Chinese Spy Who Pretended to Be a Woman is Arrested

A slick video posted Monday on state media marked National Security Awareness Day, an effort by the MSS to heighten awareness of what Beijing sees as foreign spying threats and celebrate its successes in counter-espionage.

A former Chinese agent living in Australia tells Four Corners he was ordered by the secret police to track dissidents overseas, including people working as engineers and scientists at US defense contractors.

He was a graduate student

Chinese espionage against the US has grown in intensity over the past several years. During this time, a number of high-profile arrests have taken place. One of these was a former graduate student who worked as an agent for China’s Ministry of State Security. He was accused of spying on engineers and scientists in the US and providing his handler with information about their work.

Ji Chaoqun was an electrical engineering graduate student who studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology and enlisted in the US Army Reserve, according to court documents. He was reportedly recruited by a suspected member of the Ministry of State Security’s intelligence division. He was arrested in September last year and accused of acting illegally as an agent for the Chinese government.

His alleged activities included collecting biographical data on US citizens working in the fields of science and technology, including some who work for American defense contractors. He also collected information on their social media activities and met them in person, according to court documents. This was at the direction of a high-level officer at a provincial department of the ministry.

He was charged with two felony counts of engaging in espionage and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to the jail time, he will have to pay $100,000 fines for each count. However, his lawyer argued that he did not pose a threat to national security and should be allowed to return to his family in China when he has finished his sentence.

The FBI alleged that Shi had been attempting to obtain trade secrets from companies related to the development of synthetic foam for the military and aerospace industries. It also alleged that Shi had flown his drone near the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia and photographed classified Navy systems on board. The prosecutors argued that these actions were in line with Xu Zhiyong’s objectives as an agent for the Ministry of State Security.

The case is a reminder that the Chinese secret service recruits people from all walks of life. These recruits include academics, businesspeople, and even artists. Those who recruit these individuals must be aware of the risks involved and should train their agents on the legal and ethical issues that come with gathering such information.

He travelled to Europe

In a slick video marking National Security Education Day, China’s top spy agency has a stern message for the people: foreign spies are everywhere. They disguise themselves as street fashion photographers, lab technicians and food delivery drivers — even online honey traps — to glean sensitive state secrets in a range of places and industries. But they’re always caught after state security authorities receive multiple tip-offs from the public.

As Beijing tries to tighten its grip over dissidents abroad, its intelligence agencies are expanding their operations. They are hunting for “high-priority targets” who criticize the Communist Party or document Beijing’s human rights record. Those targets often have political power or influence in the countries where they live.

Earlier this week, German authorities arrested three people on suspicion of working for the Chinese Ministry of State Security to pass on technology with potential military uses. The arrests came days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Beijing to promote cooperation. They have raised concerns about the pace of Chinese influence operations in Europe — through traditional espionage and more “greyzone” activities like influence peddling and transnational repression — which are growing more intense as attitudes towards China have hardened.

One such target is Edwin Yin, an anti-communist dissident who has been on the run since being charged with fraud in China. Four Corners has spoken to a man who claims to be his handler and has been unable to identify him because of his safety concerns. His handler tells him that the superiors consider Edwin a high priority and he has been ordered to hunt him down.

The spy reportedly started by following Edwin on social media and then using his connections in Australia to lure him to South-East Asia. From there, he followed him to Cambodia and then Thailand, where he was able to get close to him.

He later arranged for the alleged spy to move to Vancouver, where he reported on what he saw to his handler. He was praised for his work and given a financial bonus. He was subsequently promoted to regional director of the Hong Kong office, but his job was then cut.

He lived in Canada

A Federal Court judge has ruled that a Chinese engineering student can be prevented from entering Canada on suspicion of spying, a ruling that broadens the definition of espionage and could affect many foreign researchers. Yuekang Li was studying under a leading researcher at the University of Waterloo and intending to take his knowledge back to China to improve its public-health system. But a judge concluded that his plan met the definition of non-traditional espionage, even though there was no evidence he had ever been coerced into spying, nor that his research had military applications. The case is a reminder of the lengths to which Beijing is willing to go in its pursuit of dissidents abroad.

In the past, officials in the department of immigration were reluctant to make such broad determinations on the basis of mere associations with suspected spies, fearing they would lose credibility in immigration cases. The ruling in the Li case may lead to more such determinations, which will raise concerns about immigration policies. It also highlights the difficulty of balancing public security with individual rights.

Mehmet Tohti, an Ottawa-based Uyghur human rights activist, says he has received threatening phone calls from China, including one that claimed his mother and other family members were dead. Tohti tells Four Corners that he suspects that the call was made by members of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, which is known as the MSS.

The MSS, under Xi Jinping, has dramatically raised its profile and broadened its remit. It has conducted widespread campaigns to educate the public about the threat of espionage and has enlisted a number of high-profile Chinese citizens to promote its message.

One of those is the journalist Yang Yin, who has published numerous articles on Chinese espionage and corruption. She says the Chinese government views overseas Chinese communities as a key target, especially those who speak out about human rights abuses in China and attend pro-democracy events. In response, the CCP has developed a network of intelligence officers who are tracking and targeting those activists.

The MSS has been targeting members of the international community in an attempt to expose their activities, and a growing number of people are becoming aware of the dangers. Despite the threat, it is difficult to know how many individuals are being targeted by the MSS and how much information they have been sharing.

He was killed

In a slick video marking National Security Education Day, China’s top spy agency lays out its message to Chinese citizens: foreign spies are all around. As ominous music plays, a broad-faced man disguises himself as a street fashion photographer, a lab technician and a businessman in order to glean state secrets from various industries. He even sets up an online honey trap to catch his targets. The spy is eventually caught in a dramatic ambush by Chinese police, as state security authorities receive multiple tip-offs from the public.

In the case of Fang Xiaolan, the spy was apparently trying to cultivate relationships with local politicians in order to steal trade secrets and influence politics at the state and local level. According to multiple current and former intelligence officials, she went as far as to engage in sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors of Midwestern cities, while also meeting with numerous other local political leaders. She would often attend conferences for local government officials, ostensibly to meet the heads of city and township governments, in an attempt to build ties with them.

Fang is just the latest in a series of US spies to fall prey to a weakness in a system that CIA officials had relied on to communicate with their Chinese counterparts. The internet-based communication system had a vulnerability that allowed the Chinese to identify US spies, according to a report published in Foreign Policy on Wednesday. The report cites former and current intelligence officials who believe the weakness resulted in at least 30 spies being executed or imprisoned by Chinese officials in a two-year period.

Eric’s entrapment by the secret police began in 2008 when he was hired by the Ministry of State Security (MSS) to spy on pro-democracy activists and dissidents. He used his position within the organization and in the activist community to gather information on human rights leaders for MSS and the Communist Party, including details about their family lives and employment.

After he was ensnared, Eric worked with his secret police handler to help ensnare high-profile opponents living abroad. He travelled extensively and filed detailed reports on his travels for his handlers. He even met with the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, the home of Tibet’s government-in-exile. Eric says he was rewarded for his work with higher stakes missions to help the secret police ensnare opponents overseas.