China says probing state security agent over ties with CIA

China’s Public Security Ministry has announced an underway investigation of a former employee suspected of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after being recruited at an American embassy abroad.

The Ministry identified the alleged spy as 39-year-old Hao in a Monday statement, saying that the ex-employee, whose gender was not revealed, had gone to Japan for studies, where the spying recruitment occurred.

The statement came less than two weeks after the Ministry also declared that it had uncovered another national suspected of spying for the CIA after being recruited in the US embassy in Italy.

According to the Ministry, Hao had become acquainted with a US embassy official known as "Ted" who handled the visa application and then invited Hao for dinners, presented gifts and asked Hao to help him write a paper for money.

Ted later introduced Hao to a colleague, identified as Li Jun before his term at the embassy in Tokyo ended, the Ministry added, noting that Li and Hao then maintained a "cooperative relationship."

Before Hao completed studying, Li revealed being Tokyo-based CIA personnel and "instigated Hao into rebelling," directing Hao to return back to China and work for a "core and critical unit," according to the ministry’s statement.

Hao then signed an espionage agreement, accepting assessment and training from the United States, it further noted as cited in a Reuters report.

The Ministry also pointed out that upon returning to China, Hao worked in a national department "according to the requirements of the CIA," to provide the US spy agency with intelligence and getting paid for it.

The development comes after Beijing declared last month that it will “take all necessary measures to safeguard national security” against US spying networks following an earlier admittance by the CIA director that its agents were currently active in the Asia-Pacific country.

“The US on the one hand keeps spreading disinformation on so-called Chinese spying and cyber attacks and on the other hand tells the public about its large-scale intelligence activities targeting China,” China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in a press briefing on July 24.

“This in itself is quite revealing. China will take all measures necessary to safeguard national security,” she added.

CIA Director William Burns had earlier revealed the agency was rebuilding its clandestine networks across China.

Burns told attendees of a security conference in Colorado that the CIA was currently running agents in China. “We’ve made progress and we’re working very hard to make sure we have a very strong human intelligence capability to complement what we can acquire through other methods.”

ME