《今日说法》 22 Oct Chinese Central Television (CCTV) program 迷失境外 Legal Report on 2021 arrest of suspected US spy in Sichuan.
Hou, a PRC defense industry worker, had been a visiting scholar at a US university and was asked by US intelligence officer who asked him to provide information for “his company” — a cover for US intelligence according to a PRC intelligence officer interviewed for the program, USD$600 per report. Hou’s wife and children remain in the USA. The half-hour program includes Hou’s description of an encounter with a US businessman, merely friendly at first, later with an offer to engage Hou as a business consultant as the businessman’s company want to do business in China in the AI sector. Later came non-sensitive questions about some technologies such as materials used in photoelectric applications such as solar panels and methods for storing hydrogen.
Later Hou signed an agreement was paid for making brief two-page reports at first about non-sensitive materials (paid $600) and later about PRC national defense sensitive classified information. After writing some reports, he was brought to a hotel for question and answer sessions. At the end of his stay a a visiting scholar in the US, he met the boss of the ‘businessman’ who said that he was a US government worker for an intelligence agency, preached US values and made disparaging comments about the level of PRC technological development. After returning to China, his contact with US intelligence was when he made trips outside of China to attend international scientific conferences. There his US handler would meet him and there would be question and answer sessions at his hotel. Chinese security organs, which pay close attention to the travel outside of China who have sensitive information, discovered him after several years. He was arrested in 2021 and his case is now with the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court.
The program ended with an interview with Bi Yanying 毕雁英 Vice Dean of the Institute for International Relations who explained Chinese espionage law and how it permits leniency for people in the early stages of their cooperation with foreign intelligence organizations who make a report to Chinese intelligence organs or to PRC representatives overseas. She said that the Chinese people need to understand better and be more alert to the activities of foreign intelligence organizations.
Bi Yanying, Professor, is currently Vice Dean of the School of International Relations, Director of the Institute of National Security and the Rule of Law in Government of the Center for International Strategy and Security Strategy Studies, and Doctoral Supervisor (in the direction of “National Security Law” of the China Institute of Modern International Relations). She is a deputy to the 15th Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, a member of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress Specialized Committee on Nationalities, Religions, Overseas Chinese Affairs and Foreign Affairs, vice chairman of the Beijing Municipal Association for Legal Negotiation, and an expert member of the Third National Committee of Experts on Grassroots Power Building and Community Governance. He has participated in the drafting, interpretation and training of many important pieces of legislation in the field of national security.
Research interests: national security law, administrative law, administrative litigation law
Educational background: 1989-1993, studied at Heilongjiang University, Department of Philosophy, majoring in Philosophy, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy; 1998-2001, studied at Heilongjiang University, School of Law, and received a Master’s degree in Law (in the direction of Constitutional and Administrative Law); 2004-2008, studied at Peking University, School of Law, and received a Doctor’s degree in Law (in the direction of Constitutional and Administrative Law); 2014 Visiting Scholar, Yale Law School, 2014-2015.
Excerpt from Bi Yanying CV on the website of the Institute of International Relations 国际关系学院
The CCTV program is available online:
Radio France International report:
ESPIONAGE CASE
Beijing says it has cracked another U.S. spy case
US-China – On October 22, CCTV’s CCTV Today’s Speech aired the feature “Lost Outside China,” disclosing a major espionage case uncovered by state security organs in Sichuan Province.
Published: 22/10/2023 – 23:05
Author: Radio France International in Chinese
CCTV said in a special program that a staff member of China’s defense industry unit surnamed Hou was coerced by US personnel to reveal Chinese state secrets when he was sent to a US university as a visiting scholar in 2013, and was subsequently developed into a US spy.
China’s Ministry of State Security issued a reminder on its WeChat public website on Sunday, stating that “espionage goes hand in hand with deception, temptation and intrigue, and members of the public should be more aware of precautionary measures and the law.”
In a reminder, China’s Ministry of State Security said, “Any illegal or criminal act that jeopardizes our national security will be severely punished by the law.”
CCTV did not disclose the name of the Hou man’s workplace or the name of the U.S. university where he was a visiting scholar.
According to CCTV, during the period when the man surnamed Hou was working as a visiting scholar at an American university, one of his professors introduced him to a person who claimed to be an employee of a consulting company, and this person’s real identity was actually a U.S. “intelligence official”, while the consulting company he claimed was only a “cover”. “.
Hou became increasingly close friends with the intelligence official in subsequent months, CCTV said. The man then asked Hou to work as a consultant for his company, where he would be paid $600 or $700 each time he provided information about China that the company wanted to know.
Still according to official reports, Hou did this because he was so scared inside that he was forced to agree to Jacob’s request, considering that his wife and children were still in the United States and that he had previously signed a counseling agreement with the other party.
Hou was seized and arrested on July 23, 2021, by state security authorities in Sichuan province, and he was immediately charged with espionage, the report said. The report said that the detection of Hou’s espionage case “unearthed Hou, a U.S. intelligence informant in key Chinese defense and military industrial units, and eliminated a major hidden danger.”
“Hou has now been transferred to the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court to stand trial,” CCTV reported.
A Voice of America report on the Chinese broadcast described above added some background:
In recent years, the United States and its Western counterparts have often revealed the facts and risks of pervasive espionage activities by Chinese intelligence agencies in the United States and Western countries. China, on the other hand, has not only revised and expanded its Counter-espionage Law and encouraged its people to be more vigilant, to keep an eye out for and to report foreign espionage, but it has also often disclosed cases of Chinese classified personnel who are said to have been turned by foreign countries.
In August of this year, China’s Ministry of State Security disclosed two cases of what it described as espionage arrests of Chinese nationals for providing information to the U.S. CIA.
A Chinese citizen surnamed Zeng, who worked for a Chinese military industrial group, was arrested on charges of providing intelligence to the CIA; another cadre surnamed Hao from a state ministry was also arrested on charges of providing intelligence to the CIA.
October 23, 2023 VOA report in Chinese on PRC espionage charges against former visiting scholar at a US university 全民抓间谍又有新“成果”，北京称又破获一起美国间谍案
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