China vows countermeasures after CIA chief William Burns says agency is working to rebuild spy network
- Foreign ministry in Beijing attacks US for making ‘false’ claims about China spying while carrying out intelligence gathering operations in the country
- The CIA suffered a series blow around a decade ago when many of its agents were caught by the Chinese authorities
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Monday said that the Chinese government had taken note of the comments.
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“China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard our national security,” she told a press conference.
Burns, CIA director since 2021, said last week that his agency has been working to rebuild its networks after the Chinese government caught some of its agents a decade ago.
“We’ve made progress and we’re working very hard over recent years to ensure that we have strong human intelligence capability to complement what we can acquire through other methods,” he told the Aspen Security Forum.
He also said the CIA is working to ensure it can provide early warnings about any plans to attack Taiwan “if that day ever comes”.
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The New York Times reported in 2017 that US intelligence operations had suffered a heavy blow between 2010 and 2012 in China with dozens of sources being killed or disappearing.
Mao criticised the US for accusing Beijing of engaging in espionage activities on the one hand but spying in China on the other.
“The Americans repeatedly spread false information about so-called Chinese espionage and cyberattacks while blatantly admitting that they are carrying out large-scale intelligence activities against China,” she said. “This fact speaks volumes in itself.”
Several former CIA directors, such as John Deutch under the Bill Clinton administration and William Casey under Ronald Reagan, were also awarded cabinet status.
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Meanwhile, China’s former minister of state security, Chen Wenqing, was promoted to the 24-member Politburo last year as the country ramps up its anti-espionage efforts.
A major revision of the anti-espionage law was passed by the National People’s Congress earlier this year to give law enforcement greater powers to search electronic equipment.
Chen Yixin, the current Minister of State Security, has said that the security apparatus must “severely crack down” on those who might steal China’s state secrets.
