CIA targets Chinese military officials in latest online recruitment bid

The CIA released a Mandarin video depicting a fictional Chinese officer who contacts the agency after witnessing qualified leaders purged and replaced by inexperienced officials accused of corruption

By Natalia Drozdiak and Jacob Gu

 

The Central Intelligence Agency is targeting Chinese military officials in its latest recruitment video, in an effort to capitalise on potential disillusionment inside the People’s Liberation Army in the aftermath of President Xi Jinping’s military purges.

 

The US spy agency on Thursday released a video in Mandarin that portrays a fictional mid-level military officer who decided to contact the CIA after seeing qualified officers removed — and replaced with inexperienced leaders more interested in lining their pockets than defending their country.  

 

The video follows Xi’s dramatic escalation of a sweeping shakeup of China’s military in a campaign that suggests that political loyalty — not just corruption — is increasingly under scrutiny.

 

“Any man qualified to lead us is deemed a threat and unceremoniously removed,” the fictional Chinese military officer says in the CIA video, before sending files from his laptop at night from a parked car after sneaking out of a military facility. 

 

“I am a soldier and I signed up to defend my home and my country. This is the path I choose in order to serve,” he says. 

 

Since mid-2023, China has ousted more than a dozen senior officials and generals. In a first, the Chinese government in January said it was investigating a close Xi ally and the country’s top general, Zhang Youxia — a move that left the nation’s apex military body with just two people.

 

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said the CIA video “constitutes a serious infringement on China’s national interests.”

 

“China strongly condemns the move and will take all necessary means to resolutely counter infiltration and sabotage by anti-China forces abroad, and to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests,” Liu said.

 

The clip is the third such CIA recruitment video targeting Chinese officials. They have reached millions of people and inspired new sources for the agency, according to a CIA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said that if the videos weren’t working, the CIA wouldn’t keep rolling them out.  

 

“Last year, CIA’s Mandarin video campaign reached many Chinese citizens, and we know there are many more searching for a way to improve their lives and change their country for the better,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in an emailed statement. “We’re going to continue offering Chinese government officials and citizens an opportunity to work toward a brighter future together.”

  The effort is part of a broader strategy by the CIA chief to boost intelligence collection on China and in-country informants. Those efforts are aimed both at deterring Chinese military aggression but also at helping the US compete against China in critical technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

 

The CIA also has published text-only videos, including one last month that had no storyline but had updated information on how to contact the agency, including via the dark web and VPNs. It also contained tips — such as leaving mainland China before contacting the CIA.