China vows to crush CIA espionage efforts after recruitment video targeting PLA

2026-02-13 - 09:15

China has issued a forceful warning against foreign intelligence operations, vowing to "firmly crack down" on espionage attempts after the Central Intelligence Agency released a Mandarin-dubbed recruitment video explicitly targeting Chinese military personnel. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters Friday that Beijing will implement measures to counter "infiltration and sabotage activity by external anti-China forces" and safeguard national sovereignty and security interests. "Attempts of the anti-China forces will not succeed," he declared. CIA's Unprecedented Public Appeal The US intelligence agency published the video across its social media platforms Thursday, featuring a narrator portraying a fictional Chinese military official who states, "Anyone with leadership ability will inevitably be feared and ruthlessly eliminated." The production concludes with the dramatic assertion that "the fate of the world is in your hands." The unprecedented public outreach represents an aggressive escalation in Washington's efforts to recruit assets within China's expanding military apparatus. Concurrent Military Purge Context The CIA's recruitment drive coincides with an extensive investigation sweeping through China's top military leadership. Generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli are currently under scrutiny for "suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations." Earlier this month, the National People's Congress Standing Committee removed three defense industry delegates, including a nuclear weapons expert. In recent months, Generals He Weidong, Li Shangfu, and Admiral Miao Hua have all been investigated and removed from the Central Military Commission, the PLA's supreme decision-making body. Beijing frames these actions as essential anti-corruption measures, though analysts note they simultaneously remove officials potentially vulnerable to foreign intelligence targeting.