By TZBN Staff and Agencies.
If you thought spy wars died with the 20th century cold war, you got it wrong. Spy wars still rage. The Chinese foreign intelligence and counter-espionage agency is now warning young people in China to watch out for honey traps.
And what’s a honey trap? Well, it’s an old spy trick; as old as the Bible– maybe older, in which spies exploit human emotions. Spies all over the world know love and sex is a human weakness for everyone born of flesh and blood. The Philistines used a honey trap, Delilah, to find out the secret behind Samson’s strength in the Bible. And it worked.
There are two spy stories from China this September of 2024, according to RT News. In the first story, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the country’s main agency responsible for foreign intelligence and counter-espionage, has issued a warning to young people that “handsome boys and pretty girls” they meet could be honey traps aiming to lure them into spying for foreign countries.
The agency published the warning on its official WeChat account on Wednesday and addressed it to young students, in particular those with access to highly sensitive or confidential information or classified research data. The ministry warned them not to be seduced by good looks, which could be a trap set by “overseas spy intelligence agencies.” It claimed that such entities often target young Chinese students, “disguising themselves as close friends and confidants” who try to “win over, lure, and coerce” them into a false “love trap.”
The ministry also claimed some foreign intelligence agencies “provide high-paying part-time jobs” for students, often using vague language to fish for information in the name of market research or academic exchanges. In these cases, the agents are usually disguised as academics, researchers or consultants, the ministry warned, who “exploit the curiosity and willingness of young people to try new things.”
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The ministry did not provide specific names of foreign agencies who have targeted students in the manner mentioned above, but China is known to exchange accusations of espionage with the US and the UK.
The ministry’s latest warning comes on the heels of a scandal in New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff, Linda Sun, has been charged with acting as an undisclosed agent for the Chinese government. In June this year, Beijing announced it had arrested two of its own nationals on suspicion of aiding British foreign intelligence agency MI6.
The agency’s account went live in August last year, following the expansion of China’s counter-espionage law. It gave the country’s authorities broader powers to root out spies. The ministry has since published many warnings similar to the one on Wednesday, aiming to popularize counterintelligence measures among the Chinese public.
Military Secrets Sold For 6 Yuan ($0.83)?
In a second story, a retired military history book lover was nabbed when he purchased books that turned out to be classified Chinese documents. The materials had been sold for scrap instead of being destroyed.
The story of a man with the surname Zhang was reported by the Chinese Ministry of State Security on social media last Thursday. The former worker in a state-owned enterprise is an enthusiastic collector of military-related books and newspapers, according to the ministry.
One of his recent acquisitions came from a recycling station in his community. As he was walking by, Zhang noticed two bags of books being loaded. He purchased four that seemed interesting for 6 yuan ($0.83).
Later at home, he noticed that the documents were marked ‘secret’ and ‘confidential’, so he decided to call the local office of the ministry, the report said. An investigation established that the books came from a nearby military unit.
Two military personnel surnamed Guo and Li were ordered to destroy several batches of documents, but sold them instead. The package weighed over 30kg and netted the soldiers roughly 20 yuan ($2.75).
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The ministry said it has instructed employees of the recycling station on how to handle these types of incidents and worked with the military to ramp up secrecy procedures. The leak did not pose any serious security risks, the statement said, though the military employees were reprimanded for having a “weak sense of confidentiality.”
The story appears to be part of the ministry’s campaign to increase public awareness of the nation’s anti-espionage law. It was revised last year to introduce several changes, such as a requirement for telecommunications companies to cooperate with the state to prevent the dissemination of sensitive materials.
