New CIA videos encourage Chinese citizens to spy for US: 'Find peace'
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The CIA has launched a video campaign to try and convince Chinese citizens and disgruntled Chinese government officials to spy for the U.S. government.
The two Mandarin-language videos released on social media Thursday invite Chinese officials who are fed up with President Xi Jinping's government to contact the CIA. They racked up more than 5 million views on YouTube and X in their first day.
Why is the CIA asking Chinese citizens to spy for US?
What they're saying:
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost both the agency's use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted U.S. officials with its own espionage operations.
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The videos are "aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets," Ratcliffe said in a statement to The Associated Press. He said China "is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically."
"Our agency must continue responding to this threat with urgency, creativity, and grit, and these videos are just one of the ways we are doing this," Ratcliffe said.
What do the videos say?
Dig deeper:
The more than 2-minute-long videos are of cinematic quality and feature scenes of Communist Party insiders, luxury automobiles and glittering skyscrapers as narrators share their growing disillusionment with the system they have served.
In one video, a man described as an honest party member speaks of his unease about the power struggles among his peers, and what it might mean for his family's safety. As the pace of the music picks up, he says, "I’ve done nothing wrong, I can’t go on living in fear!"
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The man is then seen using his smartphone to contact the CIA, and the video ends with the agency's seal.
Links below the video offer instructions on contacting the agency securely, along with a warning cautioning potential informants about fake accounts that might impersonate the CIA.
The videos are the agency's latest attempt to make it easier and safer for potential informants to share information.
The backstory:
Last fall, the CIA posted online instructions in Korean, Mandarin and Farsi detailing steps that potential informants can take to contact U.S. intelligence officials without putting themselves in danger.
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The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or on the darknet, a part of the internet that can only be accessed using special tools designed to hide the user’s identity. The CIA posted similar instructions in Russian three years ago.
The other side:
China's embassy in Washington did not respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment about the videos.
The Source: This report includes information from the CIA and the Associated Press.