Beijing vows to firmly crack down on infiltration after CIA seeks Chinese recruitment of spies

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Friday vowed to firmly crack down on any infiltration after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sought to recruit potential spies from the Chinese military.

Beijing will take "measures to firmly crack down on infiltration and sabotage activity by external anti-China forces and to firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news conference in Beijing.

Attempts of the "anti-China forces will not succeed,” he added.

The CIA on Thursday released a video seeking to recruit potential spies from the ranks of the Chinese military.

The video was dubbed in Mandarin Chinese and released on the agency’s social media accounts.

"Anyone with leadership ability will inevitably be feared and ruthlessly eliminated," the narrator of the video, depicting a fictional Chinese military official, says.

The video ends with the remarks, "The fate of the world is in your hands."

The video comes days after China began investigating top generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli for “suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations.”

The Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) earlier this month removed three defense industry delegates, including a nuclear weapons expert, from the national legislature.

In recent months, Generals He Weidong and Li Shangfu, as well as Admiral Miao Hua, were all investigated and removed from the Central Military Commission, the country's top decision-making body overseeing the People’s Liberation Army.