The United States is trying to rebuild its spy network in China after China exposed the CIA's largest domestic spy network a decade ago.
Why the US wants to restore its spy network in China
According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States currently has a limited understanding of the future intentions of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his inner circle on Taiwan and other key global security issues.
The strengthening of China's spy network is one of the "titanic but largely secretive changes in the CIA and other intelligence agencies". This comes amid a transformation of US security policy, which has been refocused from fighting insurgencies around the world to preparing for a possible conflict with China and Russia, the newspaper notes.
Hamas's surprise attack on Israel on 7 October and the war in Gaza, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, demanded the White House's attention and intelligence resources, complicating CIA Director William Burns' desire to make China a top long-term priority.
The resolution of the crisis in the Middle East and the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as the constant attention to Beijing, will be a challenge for the US intelligence services.
China's modernisation plans and military deployments are currently monitored by US satellites, and huge amounts of Chinese communications are intercepted by interception devices. In addition, the United States learns about Xi Jinping's plans largely from inferences and analysis of his frequent public statements, rather than from an insider’s information, officials say.
China has also strengthened its spy network
The CIA used to exploit corruption among high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party and government ministries to recruit dozens of officials as agents. However, this network was destroyed by China itself as it caught the covert agents one by one.
Details of what went wrong are not known to the public and it is unclear whether any of the agency's employees have been held accountable, but a former senior US official said their losses in China were "horrendous".
China has also strengthened its espionage network, often using social media to contact and recruit former US intelligence officers.
In recent years, China has detained dozens of its own and foreign citizens on suspicion of espionage, including the head of the Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma. The US and Europe have also repeatedly accused China of espionage.
