CIA Targets CCP Insiders With New Spy Recruitment Campaign

The CIA has launched a bold new campaign aimed at recruiting disillusioned Chinese officials and professionals as part of its wider intelligence push against Beijing. In two recently released Mandarin-language videos, the agency appeals to those inside China’s Communist Party and state system who may be frustrated with corruption, stalled careers, or the fear of political purges.

The short, cinematic videos—released on Thursday and posted publicly to YouTube—are titled: “Why I contacted the CIA: to take control of my fate” and “Why I contacted the CIA: for a better life.” They follow the imagined stories of Chinese insiders who decide to turn to the CIA, citing betrayal, disillusionment, and a desire to protect their families.

“As I rise within the party, I watch those above me being discarded like worn-out shoes, but now I realise that my fate was just as precarious as theirs,” says one narrator, hinting at the anxiety bred by President Xi Jinping’s widespread anti-corruption campaigns.

In another video, a different narrator confesses:

“Our leaders’ failure to fulfil repeated promises of prosperity has become a well-known secret … It’s time I start working towards my own dreams.”

The CIA’s caption, written in Chinese, asks potential recruits:

“Do you have any information about economic, fiscal, or trade policies? … Do you work in national security, diplomacy, science, advanced technology, or deal with people who work in these fields? Please contact us. The information you can provide is important and we value your insights on these topics.”

Each video ends with contact instructions that use encryption, aimed at protecting the identity of potential informants.

Part of a Wider Espionage Effort

This campaign is part of a larger push that began last October, when the CIA posted online instructions for individuals in China, Iran, and North Korea on how to securely get in touch. Officials told Reuters that the initiative has already shown success—especially in Russia.

“If it weren’t working, we wouldn’t be making more videos,” a CIA official told the agency, suggesting that they believe the messages are slipping past China’s internet censorship.

The US is especially focused on rebuilding its spy network in China, which was severely damaged about a decade ago when the Chinese Ministry of State Security identified and executed or imprisoned at least a dozen CIA operatives. Since then, Beijing has intensified its own anti-espionage laws and encouraged its citizens to report suspicious behavior.

Escalating Tensions Between Superpowers

This recruitment drive comes amid worsening tensions between the US and China, particularly over trade, technology, and military influence in Asia. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the agency must stay alert to China’s growing global ambitions.

“It is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically,” Ratcliffe said. “Our agency must continue responding to this threat with urgency, creativity, and grit, and these videos are just one of the ways we are doing this.”

As the digital information war intensifies, both the US and China appear to be stepping up efforts to influence, recruit, and outmaneuver each other behind the scenes.