China has executed a former state agency employee for leaking classified information to foreign intelligence agencies, Al Jazeera reports.
The Ministry of State Security, in a statement released on Wednesday, identified the individual as Zhang, who had been recruited after leaving his position where he held access to “a large number of state secrets.”
Zhang, described as a member of “core confidential personnel,” was accused of betraying his country by supplying “top-secret and confidential state secrets” to foreign spy intelligence agencies. The statement alleged that Zhang was lured overseas with promises of “exotic experiences” and then coerced into becoming a double agent. A foreign spy, identified only as Li, forced Zhang to sign a cooperation agreement and seized his work flash drive and personal belongings.
The Ministry did not specify which foreign agency was involved in the case. However, a colleague of Zhang, surnamed Zhu, was sentenced to six years in prison for assisting him in the espionage operation.
The execution highlights China’s increasingly stringent approach to national security under President Xi Jinping. The government has amplified warnings about foreign powers attempting to infiltrate and target Chinese citizens. This year, revised anti-espionage legislation expanded the definition of espionage to encompass any information related to national security, beyond traditional state secrets.
The recent case follows a string of similar accusations between China and Western powers. In June, China accused Britain’s MI6 of recruiting a couple who worked for the central government. Earlier this year, Australian writer Yang Hengjun was given a suspended death sentence on espionage charges, a decision met with condemnation from the Australian government.
In August, US prosecutors charged a New York resident with spying for China, accusing him of involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has recently taken to social media to post instructions in Chinese on how to securely contact the agency, underscoring the ongoing information warfare between the two nations.
