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Espionage
ChinaPolitics

China’s spy agency goes public with espionage and subversion plots

  • Ministry of State Security gives details on a number of cases linked to top military projects
  • Agency chief also promises to confront biosecurity risks exposed by the coronavirus pandemic

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Zhang Jiange, a senior researcher with an unnamed defence technologies institute, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for espionage. Photo: CCTV
Matt Ho
China’s spy agency has revealed details of a foiled subversion plot and other espionage cases, including several involving access to sensitive military projects.
The agency’s chief has also pledged to strengthen preparedness for biosecurity risks as the coronavirus pandemic raises alarms about the country’s defences against a “non-traditional attack”.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday that three of the espionage cases highlighted by the Ministry of State Security involved researchers and engineers who worked for Chinese military contractors or institutes and had access to sensitive information about the country’s naval and aviation projects.

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In an undated footage, Zhang Jiange, a senior researcher with an unnamed defence technologies institute, was arrested by ministry agents at an airport in Zhengzhou in the central province of Henan reportedly about to leave the country.

The ministry said it found confidential research materials in Zhang’s luggage and accused him of selling the information to an unspecified foreign intelligence agency. Zhang was later convicted of espionage and sentenced to 15 years in jail.

The report did not specify Zhang’s expertise, saying only that his research involved key secrets of People’s Liberation Army’s “important armaments and advanced weapons”, but the report included file footage of warship guns and China’s carrier-borne fighter jet, the J-15.
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