China outs yet another national as US ‘spy’, says he was groomed during visiting scholar stint

Suspect named Hou detained over ‘major espionage case’ at key defence and military industrial unit, CCTV show shared by state security ministry says

Defence industry researcher is at least the fourth US ‘spy’ that China’s top anti-espionage agency has revealed details on since August

Reading Time:3 minutes

The WeChat page of China’s Ministry of State Security, where it posted the latest spy revelations broadcast by CCTV. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:03pm, 22 Oct 2023Updated: 10:15pm, 22 Oct 2023

China has published the backstory of yet another “US spy”, detailing how the Chinese defence industry researcher was groomed by American intelligence to become an “informant” when he was a visiting scholar in the country.

State security authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan uncovered “a major espionage case” at a key defence and military industrial unit in July 2021 and detained a suspect named Hou, a programme aired by state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday.

The Ministry of State Security – Beijing’s top anti-espionage agency – posted the 28-minute video programme on its official channel on Chinese social media platform WeChat.

The latest revelation comes amid ramped up anti-spy rhetoric from the ministry in recent months. This has included releasing the details of multiple cases involving alleged current and past US intelligence operations in the country, and an array of commentaries on US-China relations featuring strong criticism of Washington’s policies.

Hou is accused of having sent to the United States two top secret, three classified and six secret documents since 2013, leading to “serious harm” to China’s national security and interests, the CCTV programme said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x