American espionage in China

This is a list of activities carried out by U.S. intelligence agencies in mainland China and Taiwan.

Activities in the Republic of China (Taiwan) 1950–1955

Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), suspected that the United States was plotting a coup, or potential assassination, against him. In 1950, his son Chiang Ching-kuo became director of the secret police, which he remained until 1965. Chiang also considered some people who were friends to Americans to be his enemies. An enemy of the Chiang family, Wu Kuo-chen, was kicked out of his position of governor of Taiwan by Chiang Ching-kuo and fled to America in 1953.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW9yrtekFRkC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA302|title=Opposition and dissent in contemporary China|author=Peter R. Moody|year=1977|publisher=Hoover Press|page=302|isbn=978-0-8179-6771-0|access-date=2010-11-30|archive-date=2023-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410213127/https://books.google.com/books?id=AW9yrtekFRkC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA302|url-status=live}} Chiang Ching-kuo, educated in the Soviet Union, initiated a Soviet style military reorganization in the Republic of China's military, which reorganized and Sovietized the political officer corps, surveillance, and Kuomintang party activities. Opposed to this was Sun Li-jen, who was educated at the American Virginia Military Institute.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5R2fnVZXiwC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA195|title=The Generalissimo's son: Chiang Ching-kuo and the revolutions in China and Taiwan|author=Jay Taylor|year=2000|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=195|isbn=978-0-674-00287-6|access-date=2010-06-28|archive-date=2023-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410213246/https://books.google.com/books?id=_5R2fnVZXiwC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA195|url-status=live}}

Chiang orchestrated the controversial court-martial and arrest of General Sun Li-jen in August 1955, for plotting a coup d'état with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) against his father Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang. The CIA allegedly wanted to help Sun take control of Taiwan and declare its independence.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoB35f6HD9gC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA181|title=Patterns in the dust: Chinese-American relations and the recognition controversy, 1949-1950|author=Nançy Bernkopf Tucker|year=1983|publisher=Columbia University Press|page=181|isbn=978-0-231-05362-4|access-date=2010-06-28|archive-date=2023-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410213202/https://books.google.com/books?id=YoB35f6HD9gC&q=sun+li+jen+americans+chiang&pg=PA181|url-status=live}}

Activities in the People's Republic of China

=1950s=

==Third Force==

In order to open a second front in the Korean War, CIA officers decided to rely upon a second plan. CIA operators were fearful of Mao Zedong's entry into the war and estimated that a substantial amount of Kuomintang Nationalist guerillas were available to work with the agency. They also estimated that Muslim horsemen led by Ma Bufang would be willing to launch attacks against China in its western regions. When both of these efforts proved to be overly projected in terms of success and strategic actualities, the U.S., convinced that a third force was available within China, decided to invest resources into securing such a force to its efforts. In order to facilitate resistance against China's involvement in Korea, the CIA invested over $100 million in buying weapons that would be used by "third force" guerillas in China. The Agency scarcely could find any anti-Mao sentiment within their contacts, however, with the only signs of life being a group of refugees in Okinawa, invariably proven to be a group more interested in obtaining their own goals than in truly assisting the United States.{{Cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Weiner |title=Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA |title-link=Legacy of Ashes (book) |date=2007-08-07 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-385-52432-2 |pages=66–68 |language=en}}

Eventually, the CIA declassified its records and admitted the failures of the Third Force strategy. The list illuminated a quick study on insurgency failures. According to the documents, the CIA began dropping small guerilla units into China, the first Third Force team having been deployed in April, 1952. All four members of the team were never heard from again. The second Third Force team was made up of five ethnic Chinese agents, and dropped into the Jilin region of Manchuria in mid-July 1952. The team eventually reported contact with local rebel leaders. The team was, unbeknownst to the CIA, captured and turned by the Chinese, setting up the ensuing trap. The CIA responded by sending in a rescue unit, only to have its planes shot down and its principal agents assigned to the mission, Jack Downey and Dick Fecteau, captured.{{Cite book |last=Delury |first=John |author-link=John Delury |title=Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China |date=2022-10-15 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-6597-1 |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.7591/cornell/9781501765971.001.0001}} Both men were subsequently sentenced to prison sentences in China. Beijing later boasted of the insurgency failures of their United States counterparts. At that point, the CIA had dropped 212 agents into China, resulting in 101 agents killed and 111 captured.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070613045611/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol50no4/two-cia-prisoners-in-china-1952201373.html#_ftn9 "Two CIA Prisoners in China, 1952–73"], Apr 05, 2007, CIA[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI "Extraordinary Fidelity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106224319/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Mh7EiXRJI |date=2022-01-06 }}, Apr 05, 2007, CIA[https://web.archive.org/web/20130816085420/https://www.cia.gov/library/video-center/video-transcripts/extraordinary-fidelity.html "Extraordinary Fidelity" ], Jun 05, 2013, (transcript), CIA{{page needed|date=January 2021}} Michael D. Coe, who had been recruited by the CIA and worked within the agency during the Third Force events, stated that the CIA "had been sold a bill of goods by the Nationalists that there was a huge force of resistance inside of China. We were barking up the wrong tree. The whole operation was a waste of time."{{Cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |title=Legacy of Ashes: the History of the CIA |title-link=Legacy of Ashes (book) |date=2007 |publisher=London : Allen Lane |isbn=978-1-84614-046-4 |pages=66–68, 645}}

In 1959, China learned that United States spy planes were carrying out missions throughout China, including above Beijing.{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |s2cid=218936313 |oclc=1145096137}}{{Rp|page=43}} Anti-air brigades were able to shoot down a few United States spy planes in the early 1960s, but their overall inefficacy demonstrated the limitations of the People's Liberation Army in responding to aircraft incursions.{{Rp|page=43}}

=1960s - 1980s=

Starting in the late 1950s and continuing throughout the 1960s, the CIA provided Tibetan guerrilla groups, including the Chushi Gangdruk group with material assistance and aid, including arms and ammunition, as well as training to members of Chushi Gangdruk and other Tibetan guerrilla groups at Camp Hale.{{cite book |last1=Knaus |first1=J. K. |url=https://archive.org/details/orphansofcoldwar00john |title=Orphans of the Cold War |date=1999 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=9781891620188 |location=NY |pages=[https://archive.org/details/orphansofcoldwar00john/page/139 139] |url-access=registration}}{{Cite web |date=9 January 1964 |title=Review of Tibetan Operations |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005503557.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911174929/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005503557.pdf |archive-date=11 September 2021 |website=Central Intelligence Agency}}{{Cite web |date=January 9, 1964 |title=337. Memorandum for the Special Group |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v30/d337 |website=Office of the Historian |quote=This included bringing 133 Tibetans to the United States for training in political, propaganda and paramilitary techniques;}} T. D. Allman; A Myth Foisted on the Western World, The Nation Magazine, 1974. The CIA program in Tibet was part of a broader geopolitical strategy aimed at countering Communist expansionism and influence in Asia during the Cold War.{{Cite journal |last=Garratt |first=Kevin |date=July 2000 |title=The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet since 1947. Tsering Shakya |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2667501 |journal=The China Journal |volume=44 |pages=194–196 |doi=10.2307/2667501 |jstor=2667501 |issn=1324-9347|url-access=subscription }} The program ended in 1972 in the wake of the U.S' normalizing of diplomatic relations with China.{{cite web|last=Stephen Talty|title=The Dalai Lama's Great Escape|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/12/31/dalai-lamas-escape-from-tibet-and-the-cias-role.html|website=The Daily Beast|date=Dec 31, 2010}}

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the CIA maintained close relations with Chinese intelligence agencies,{{cite web |last1=Phelps |first1=Alan |title=The daily Nebraskan., September 17, 1992 |url=https://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/sn96080312/1992-09-17/ed-1/seq-2/ |website=Nebraska Newspapers |publisher=Associated Press}} Joint efforts were conducted to construct listening posts in northwest China to monitor Soviet communications as part of Project Chestnut,{{cite web |last1=Carl |first1=Kendall |title=Lending An Ear: Project Chestnut and U.S.-China Intelligence Cooperation, 1975–1989 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2024.2302018}} and during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the CIA monitored the movement through a network of informants within Chinese intelligence as well as within the protest movement, to whom they aided by providing communications equipment including fax machines and typewriters. The CIA's network in China later aided the escape of the leaders of the protest movement with the help of sympathizers in Hong Kong.U.S. rescued china dissidents: [CITY edition]

= 2000s =

In 2001, a presidential plane built in the United States for Chinese President Jiang Zemin was found to have listening devices installed.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kerry |title=China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One |date=2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-26724-4 |location=London |author-link=Kerry Brown (historian)}}{{Rp|page=53}} Chinese authorities located at least 20 devices, including one in the headboard of the presidential bed.{{Cite web |date=2002-01-19 |title=Jiang's U.S.-Built Plane Is Reportedly Bugged |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-19-mn-23654-story.html |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103135639/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-19-mn-23654-story.html |url-status=live }} The listening devices were capable of being operated via satellite.

=2010s=

According to an investigation by The New York Times, the government of the PRC was able to either kill or imprison 18 to 20 CIA sources from 2010 to 2012; an article in Foreign Policy cited a higher number, putting the number of sources killed at at least 30.{{cite journal |last1=Dorfman |first1=Zach |date=15 August 2018 |title=Botched CIA Communications System Helped Blow Cover of Chinese Agents |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/15/botched-cia-communications-system-helped-blow-cover-chinese-agents-intelligence/ |journal=Foreign Policy |access-date=16 August 2018 |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105231904/https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/15/botched-cia-communications-system-helped-blow-cover-chinese-agents-intelligence/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520215353/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spies-espionage.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur |archive-date=May 20, 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spies-espionage.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur |title=Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations |first1=Mark |last1=Mazzetti |first2=Adam |last2=Goldman |first3=Michael S. |last3=Schmidt |first4=Matthew |last4=Apuzzo |date=May 20, 2017 |access-date=May 20, 2017}} A joint CIA and FBI counterintelligence operation set up to investigate the intelligence failure advanced three different theories as to why the spy network was dismantled: (1) there was a mole within the CIA, (2) "sloppy tradecraft" and (3) PRC intelligence agents had hacked the covert system the CIA used to communicate with its foreign sources. The New York Times said that the debate over the cause remained unsolved while a former American intelligence official cited by Foreign Policy said investigators concluded that it was caused by a "confluence and combination of events." In January 2018, a former CIA officer named Jerry Chun Shing Lee was arrested and would eventually plead guilty{{cite magazine|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/former-cia-agent-lee-pleads-guilty-spying-for-china.html|title=Former CIA Agent Pleads Guilty to Spying for China|first=Elliot|last=Hannon|date=May 1, 2019|magazine=Slate|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-date=October 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007204154/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/former-cia-agent-lee-pleads-guilty-spying-for-china.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=2019-05-01 |title=Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Espionage |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-commit-espionage |access-date=2019-05-07 |website=U.S. Department of Justice |language=en |archive-date=2021-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120115921/https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-commit-espionage |url-status=live }} on suspicion of helping dismantle the network{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/cia-china-mole-arrest-jerry-chun-shing-lee.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur |title=Ex-C.I.A. Officer Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants Is Arrested |date=January 16, 2018 |access-date=January 16, 2018 |first=Adam |last=Goldman |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=July 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712004117/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/cia-china-mole-arrest-jerry-chun-shing-lee.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur |url-status=live }} while the Foreign Policy article ascribed, notwithstanding the arrest, the failure to the ability of the PRC intelligence agencies to penetrate the CIA's communication system.

The 2010s global surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden demonstrated extensive United States intelligence activities in China.{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Angela Huyue |title=High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9780197682258 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001}}{{Rp|page=129}} This heightened fears by Chinese policymakers of cyberattacks against China.{{RP|page=129}} As part of its response, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2014 formed the Cybersecurity and Information Leading Group{{Rp|page=129}} and the National People's Congress passed the Cyber Security Law.{{Rp|page=250}}

Sun Bo, a general manager of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, was investigated for corruption and supplying classified information to the CIA, including technical specifications of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to Asia Times.{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Strong |newspaper=Taiwan News |quote=While initial suspicion focused on graft and corruption, later reports suggested that Sun might have handed over key details of the Liaoning project to CIA agents. |title=China shipyard manager might have leaked Liaoning secrets to CIA |date=June 22, 2018 |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3463942 |access-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007061639/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3463942 |url-status=live }} Sun Bo was sentenced to 12 years in prison on July 4, 2019.{{cite news |title=Hu Wenming ex-head of China's aircraft carrier program investigated for corruption |url=https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/3/147164/Hu-Wenming-ex-head-of-China%27s-aircraft-carrier-program-investigated-for-corruption |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=thestandard.com.hk |date=13 May 2020 |archive-date=12 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112193353/https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/3/147164/Hu-Wenming-ex-head-of-China%27s-aircraft-carrier-program-investigated-for-corruption |url-status=live }}

A December 2020 article by Zach Dorfman in Foreign Policy suggested that decades of corruption inside of the CCP had created vulnerabilities exploited by outside intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA. CCP purges under the guise of anti-corruption were at least partially motivated by counterintelligence concerns.{{Cite news|last=Dorfman|first=Zach|date=December 21, 2020|title=China Used Stolen Data to Expose CIA Operatives in Africa and Europe|work=Foreign Policy|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/|access-date=December 22, 2020|archive-date=December 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216142246/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/|url-status=live}}

=2020s=

In October 2021, citing a leaked CIA cable, The New York Times reported that the CIA had admitted to have lost a "troubling number of informants" recruited from countries including China in recent years, with informants being killed, captured or compromised. The leaked cable comes amid China's recent efforts in hunting down CIA sources to turn them into double agents.{{Cite news|last1=Barnes|first1=Julian E.|last2=Goldman|first2=Adam|date=2021-10-05|title=Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html|access-date=2021-10-07|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2022-01-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106095828/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html|url-status=live}} The memo also mentions a "breach of the classified communications system" that led to spy networks in China being caught and that some officials believe that treasonous US intelligence officers may be the culprits responsible for the arrests and execution of CIA spies.

{{Multiple image

| image1 = CIA Chinese recruiting video- 选择合作的原因：成为命运的主宰者.webm

| caption1 = Reasons for choosing cooperation: Become the master of your own destiny

| image2 = CIA Chinese recruiting video- 选择合作的原因：创造美好远景.webm

| caption2 = Reasons for cooperation: creating a better future

| footer = The two recruiting videos, with English captions available

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On May 1, 2025, the CIA released two videos filmed in Mandarin with Chinese subtitle luring Chinese officials to leak Chinese state secrets to the United States as CIA chief John Ratcliffe vowed to expand the agency's focus on Beijing.{{Cite web |last=Gan |first=Nectar |date=2025-05-02 |title=CIA rolls out sleek new videos aimed at recruiting Chinese officials |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/china/cia-recruitment-videos-chinese-officials-intl-hnk |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=CNN |language=en}}