Just weeks after a dramatic purge of Chinese generals, the CIA is seeking to capitalize on any divisions with a new public video targeting potential informants in the Chinese military.
A US intelligence agency released a video yesterday showing a disappointed mid-ranking Chinese officer, which, according to Reuters, represents the latest step in the US campaign to strengthen intelligence collection on its strategic rival.
The move follows a similar initiative in May last year, which featured fictional characters from China's ruling Communist Party, with detailed instructions in Chinese on how to safely contact US intelligence services.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the agency's video messages had reached many Chinese citizens and that the CIA would continue to offer Chinese officials "the opportunity to work together for a brighter future."
Last month, China's defense ministry announced that Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and second in command behind Xi, was under investigation, marking the most high-profile removal of a senior Chinese military leader in decades.
A short CIA video posted on its YouTube channel appears to be an attempt to exploit the domestic political fallout from Beijing's years-long campaign against corruption in the military, which has affected the highest echelons of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and not just Zhang.
“Anyone with leadership qualities will inevitably become suspicious and be ruthlessly eliminated,” the virtual officer says in the Mandarin-language recording. “Their power is built on countless lies,” he adds, referring to his superiors.
The CIA said it was confident the online campaign was breaking through China's internet restrictions known as the "Great Firewall" and reaching its target audience. "Our earlier videos have reached millions of people and inspired new sources," a CIA official told Reuters, without giving details.
According to reports, the CIA has invested heavily in countering China and is trying to rebuild its spy network in the country after Beijing seriously weakened its reach between 2010 and 2012.
US officials claim that Chinese intelligence services are working tirelessly to recruit current and former US employees, and Beijing has in recent years published reports about what it claims are US spy networks it has uncovered in China.
These high-stakes spy games are part of an increasingly intense military and technological rivalry, which many observers consider a new form of the Cold War.
Bonus video:
