On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s establishment on October 1st, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States launched a network operation on October 2nd to strengthen recruitment of Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean citizens as informants. CIA officials specifically pointed out that many Chinese people are discontent with Xi Jinping and cooperating with the CIA can help their country. Experts praised the US for reaching out to informants in China as an appeal to truth and awakening of consciousness, which is starkly different from the Chinese Communist Party’s tactics of monetary inducements and brainwashing.
The CIA, as America’s top spy agency, initiated a new online recruitment operation on Wednesday, October 2nd. A spokesperson stated in a press release that the agency posted video instructions in Simplified Chinese, Persian, and Korean on its accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, LinkedIn, and the dark web, detailing steps potential informants can take to contact US intelligence officers without putting themselves in danger.
A Simplified Chinese video released by the CIA on YouTube advised using non-local trusted Virtual Private Network (VPN) services or the Tor network service to enhance security as the preferred means of contact.
According to Bloomberg, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen mentioned in an interview that many Chinese individuals have access to information and are dissatisfied with Xi Jinping’s regime.
Cohen emphasized, “Many people in China see what is happening and come from many different motivations, fundamentally disliking the direction in which Xi Jinping is leading the country. These people understand that by cooperating with us, they can help their country.”
An unnamed CIA spokesperson stated that the agency’s efforts to recruit informants in Russia have been successful, and they also aim to ensure that individuals under authoritarian regimes know that they are willing to cooperate.
Cohen further mentioned that the CIA continues to work on recruiting Chinese citizens who have left China, with increasing support from CIA China experts globally. He likened this shift to the US cultivating Soviet experts during the Cold War.
Reported by Reuters, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy claimed that this was an organized and systematic false propaganda campaign by the US and emphasized that any attempt to alienate the Chinese people from the Communist Party and weaken their close ties with the Party is destined to fail.
Taiwan’s National Chengchi University Professor Lee Youtan expressed to Epoch Times that Chinese officials claiming that other countries are trying to estrange the Chinese people from the Communist Party is a groundless statement, showing the CCP’s fear of being pointed out that the Party and the people are not the same.
He noted that compared to the approaches of the US and China, the CCP buys loyalty with money from informants while the CIA directly appeals to awakening individuals.
“The US CIA’s approach is to let people in authoritarian countries see the truth, which is different from the CCP’s brainwashing and monetary inducements through extensive propaganda. It is a battle of truth, goodness, beauty against falsehood, evil, hostility, reflecting how a free, open, and diverse democratic society deals differently with authoritarian and closed single-party authoritarian regimes.”
The Chinese Ministry of State Security had previously announced the disclosure of a CIA espionage case on August 11 last year, involving an employee of a certain Chinese military industrial group who was influenced by US embassy officials during overseas study in Italy. The employee had shaken political positions by leaning towards Western values.
Associate Professor Chen Shimin from the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University stated during an interview with Epoch Times that CIA Deputy Director Cohen openly acknowledging that the Chinese people are dissatisfied with Xi Jinping’s rule and the CCP’s governance shows a welcoming attitude towards those willing to cooperate. His comments echoed a recent joint research report from Harvard University and Stanford University, which highlighted a decline in Chinese public expectation of a better future under Xi Jinping’s leadership from 73% in 2014, shortly after he came into power, to only 47% in 2023.
“It is evident that the majority of Chinese people are dissatisfied with Xi Jinping or the CCP’s rule, but they currently lack organized coordination to counter the CCP’s dictatorial rule.”
Chen also stated that the CIA implying the CCP does not equal China is akin to a peaceful evolution of China.
Lee Youtan remarked that the CIA’s public accusations against oppressive regimes in China, North Korea, and Iran in Chinese, Korean, and Persian to potential informants serve as a beautifully executed move, striking at the vulnerabilities of authoritarian or dictatorial regimes.
Breaking from tradition, the US this year issued congratulations to the Chinese Communist regime after its “eleventh” National Day. In previous years, Secretary of State Blinken had extended greetings before the “eleventh” in his name, while this year’s statement was released on October 2nd, three days later compared to last year’s announcement on September 29.
Lee Youtan noted that this truly reflects the current severe state of US-China relations, with the CIA’s recruitment of informants in China acting as a symbol of the escalating rivalry between the US and China, indicating the inability of the two camps of freedom and democracy versus authoritarian regimes to coexist in this world.
“In democratic countries, the government’s authority comes from the consent of the people through votes, while the CCP’s power suppresses the people, inevitably leading to alienation between the Chinese people and the government. As long as the people awaken, they will reject the CCP’s rule. The CCP’s governance dilemma will always exist, which is why it is commonly believed that tyranny will ultimately perish,” he concluded.