China’s top intelligence agency says a recent CIA campaign aimed at recruiting informants from China is a sign the US spy agency is desperately looking for ways to survive as Washington slashes budgets.
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“Yet, as resources shrink, the CIA has doubled down on hyping the ‘China threat’ as its lifeline, peddling fear to Congress and taxpayers to carve out a larger slice of the budget pie,” the Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in an article published on Wednesday on its official WeChat account.
The post, published in both Chinese and English, referred to a CIA effort to recruit Chinese spies as “yet another farcical performance”.
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New CIA videos seek to lure Chinese officials to leak secrets to US
New CIA videos seek to lure Chinese officials to leak secrets to US
It was the first time that the MSS, which has become increasingly active on social media, has responded to the advertisements – two Chinese-language videos posted by the CIA on social media last month.
The videos were intended to exploit possible dissatisfaction among Chinese officials with the ruling Communist Party leadership and encourage them to leak secrets to the United States.
A public recruitment drive, launched by the CIA last October, posted instructions online on how to safely contact the US spy agency in the hope of attracting informants from China, Iran and North Korea.
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Last month, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian condemned the recruitment drive, calling it “a serious violation of China’s national interests and a blatant political provocation”.