China: CIA Spy Uncovered after Recruitment by US in Italy

By Staff, Agencies

China announced that it has uncovered a spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], a Chinese national who worked for a military-industrial group and was offered money and immigration to the US in exchange for sensitive military information.

The Ministry of State Security said in a statement on Friday that a 52-year-old named Zeng had been sent to Italy for studies, where he befriended a CIA agent stationed at the US embassy in Rome.

The embassy official convinced Zeng to provide “sensitive information on the [Chinese] military” in exchange for “a huge amount of compensation” and assistance for Zeng and his family to move to the United States, the ministry said in the statement published online.

Zeng was found to have signed an espionage agreement with the US and received training before returning to China to carry out espionage activities, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

China’s state-run Global Times media outlet reported that the US embassy employee’s name was “Seth” and he had cultivated a relationship with Zeng through “dinner parties, outings, and operas”.

“Zeng gradually became psychologically dependent on Seth, and Seth took advantage of this to instill Western values into Zeng. Under Seth’s solicitation, Zeng’s political stance was shaken,” Global Times reported.

“As the exchanges between the two gradually deepened, Seth revealed to Zeng that he was a member of the CIA’s Rome station,” the newspaper said.

Zeng’s case has been sent to China’s state prosecutors, it added.