A Chinese Spy Who Pretended to Be a Woman

A chinese spy who pretended to be a woman had a long-running affair with a French diplomat. He convinced his lover to pass him French Embassy documents in exchange for sex. They even had a child together.

But when Boursicot was arrested for espionage, Shi confessed to being a man. This was one of the strangest cases in spy history.

He was a singer

The recent arrest of former Harvard University professor and Thousand Talents Plan participant Yanqing Ye and fellow Chinese national Zaosong Zheng for stealing biological research data from the US Department of Defense is only the latest sign of a continued attack on American economic security. The pair were charged with spying on American companies, including Apple, Boeing and the NSA, in exchange for financial benefits from the Communist Party. They also compiled information on US military projects to promote the development of China’s nuclear missile program. The case is another in a series of high-profile arrests targeting US nationals who allegedly worked for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).

While some might view the MSS as a shadowy organization with no public face, under Xi Jinping, China’s most authoritarian leader in decades, it has significantly raised its profile and broadened its remit. The agency has made its first forays into social media, and last year, it launched a comic strip series depicting its agents in the hunt for foreign spies.

Earlier this month, the MSS arrested a prominent pro-democracy activist and helped him to face charges related to an espionage scandal. Shujun Wang, 75, had helped found a pro-democracy group in New York and used his connections within the community to gather intelligence on dissidents and share it with the Chinese government. He has been charged alongside four officials from the MSS.

Wang’s handlers included Hsieh Ping-cheng, a former Taiwan Army officer who had set up a male escort business and would often refer to himself as an Army colonel in the PLA’s Guangdong Southern Theater Command. In addition, Hsieh recruited a number of active-duty officers into the espionage ring.

Unlike in the past, where commercial motives were sometimes a factor in collection, the current focus of the MSS is on long-term strategic goals. This is a shift that began under Xi, who reorganized the agency to better serve its mission and clamped down on private collection for personal gain. However, as Greitens explains, it is important to remember that over-encouraging or incentivizing citizens to report potential spies can backfire.

He was a diplomat

Under Xi Jinping, China’s most authoritarian leader in decades, its top civilian spy agency has drastically raised its public profile. Its recruitment campaigns are targeted at a wide range of sectors and the agency has even opened a comic book series that features fictional investigations inspired by real-life counterintelligence cases. It has even dialed up its presence on social media and stepped up its advertising budgets. In a slick video marking National Security Education Day, the MSS warns Chinese citizens against foreign spies and urges them to report any suspicious activity.

A recent case involving a former US Army soldier in Chicago highlights the breadth of Beijing’s espionage operations abroad. Ji Chaoqun was a graduate student studying electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology when he was contacted on LinkedIn by someone posing as a Beijing-based headhunter. Heavily indebted and struggling to pay his mortgage, he agreed to participate in the scheme. He gathered information on US engineers and scientists for the MSS and reported it back to his case officer in China.

The 10-person espionage ring was headed by retired Taiwan Army servicemember-cum-businessman Chen Yu-hsin, who remains a wanted fugitive in his homeland. The ring also included three other former military officers and two PLA members. The ring stole millions of dollars worth of sensitive information, including data on American companies, government industrial subsidies and the Chinese air force. It was all sent to the MSS, which in turn used it to advance China’s political and economic interests.

Experts say these campaigns risk undermining Beijing’s central message that it is opening up its economy and lowering barriers to investment. They also reinforce the perception that China’s state security apparatus is still a potent threat to the global economy. In addition to economic espionage, the MSS is conducting other types of espionage, including transnational repression targeting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kong residents, and those who support Taiwan independence and Falun Gong. It is also engaging in cyber espionage, signals intelligence, and influence operations via the Communist Party’s United Front Department. Using a combination of old-fashioned infiltration methods and new mediums, the MSS is trying to gain a foothold in the West and disrupt American technology and supply chains.

He was a businessman

China is engaged in a significant amount of economic espionage as part of its effort to gain more global influence. This espionage often involves private companies and individuals who are not affiliated with the Chinese government. In recent years, Chinese spies have been arrested for stealing valuable information from the US. This information has been used to develop products that are competitive with American companies and to help the Chinese economy. In some cases, the information is stolen from individuals who work for government agencies or universities. The information may be stolen from a person’s personal computer, or it could be stolen from an organization’s computer network.

For example, a Chinese national named Su Bin worked for Boeing between 2008 and 2014. During this time, he infiltrated the company’s networks to steal confidential access and trade secrets. He also stole personal information from federal employees, including security clearances. This information was then sent to the Chinese government. In addition to industrial espionage, the Chinese government has been involved in other types of espionage, such as political espionage.

Another alleged Chinese spy, Sun Ying-yun, recruited Army officers to collect military secrets. She allegedly collected sensitive information about secret military deployments, communication links, and mobilization plans. She would send this information to her handlers via encrypted messaging software like Line and Telegram. She also received payments from the spy ring in return for her information.

The United States has been stepping up its investigation of suspected Chinese spies. This has been prompted by the growing tension between the two countries. The United States accuses China of stealing its technology and spying on its citizens. The Chinese government denies these accusations.

The FBI has been investigating Chinese spying for more than a decade, and it has convicted several people. In addition to stealing trade secret information, the agents have been involved in several other illegal activities. Some of these include bribery, fraud, and wire fraud. In some cases, the agents have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years. Others have been acquitted or dismissed from their jobs.

He was a spy

In recent years, China has stepped up its efforts to recruit foreign nationals as spies. These recruitment methods include cyber espionage, signals intelligence and influence operations via united front work that targets overseas Chinese communities and associations. According to the Justice Department, Sun’s activities in New York are part of a broader strategy by Beijing to infiltrate all levels of government, including local and state, in the United States.

The MSS is also stepping up its social media presence. In 2018, the agency began a WeChat account and has produced short videos with a special section dedicated to spy tips. The channel is popular with young Chinese, and its content has been widely shared on state-owned media. But experts warn that the MSS’s public relations campaign could backfire.

One such video showed a young woman calling the MSS’s hotline to report her boyfriend as a suspected spy. She claimed that he was unable to remember the exact lyrics and tunes of China’s national anthem, which is considered a sign of being unpatriotic. The video was met with outrage and anger, and the MSS has since deleted the post and apologized for its mistake.

This isn’t the first time the MSS has encouraged the public to report spying activity. In 2015, the agency published an article on its website encouraging readers to call a hotline to report people who are “trying to steal commercial secrets.” The article was met with outrage and criticism from Western media outlets for its xenophobic tone.

A year later, the MSS released a six-minute micro movie that it said was inspired by real-life counterespionage cases. The film shows a consultancy that works for an unidentified foreign agency to steal information from a tech company that is seeking to go public abroad, as well as sensitive details about China’s government industrial subsidies and its air force.

The MSS’s propaganda and education campaigns, as well as its generous cash rewards for national security tip-offs, have fueled enthusiasm online among Chinese users about catching spies. Influencers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, have rushed to produce videos instructing their followers on how to spot spies and share their own experiences with the MSS.