China’s Ministry of State Security announced that a Chinese citizen suspected of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been uncovered.
In the statement made on the ministry’s WeChat channel, it was stated that a Chinese citizen named Zeng, who works for a military industry group, was recruited by a CIA agent in Italy.
The statement said, “Zeng was sent to Italy by the military industry group for further studies and met the CIA agent. There the two developed a close relationship and Zeng became increasingly dependent on the CIA agent psychologically. The CIA agent tried to shake Zeng’s political stance. “After he succeeded, he asked Zeng for sensitive information about the Chinese military.”
In the statement, while no information was given about when the events took place, it was stated that the alleged CIA agent was born in 1971 and his name was “Seth”.
The ministry said it was determined that Zeng “signed an espionage deal with the United States and received training before returning to China”, and that in exchange for the information, Zeng’s family was given “a large amount of money” and “promises to emigrate to the United States”.
The ministry also said that after returning to China, Zeng provided “basic” intelligence many times and put money in his pocket for these efforts.
The US embassy in Beijing did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.