China jails man for 10 years for spying for foreign intelligence agents
PUBLISHED : Friday, 22 May, 2015, 12:20pm
UPDATED : Friday, 22 May, 2015, 12:44pm
Keira Lu Huang
[email protected]
The convicted spy, who was only identified by his surname Wu. Details were not given of the countries he spied for. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A Chinese citizen has been jailed for 10 years for spying for other countries since 2013, and two others face similar charges, according to the Department of State Security in Jiangsu province.
The three had provided secret government documents, photos of military bases and other information since 2013, the state-run China News Service reported. The leaked information included six top-secret documents, restricted government files and periodicals, as well as details of military installations.
A spokeswoman for the department, which is the provincial branch of the national ministry in charge of counterespionage, said the three acted alone and were contacted separately by foreign agents through the internet, such as hiring websites.
The department provided only sparse information about the three, including specifics of their alleged crimes and where and when they occurred. It also did not name the agencies or countries who received the information.
Only one, surnamed Wu, had been jailed so far, for “spying on state secrets for foreign countries”. Since 2013, Wu had sent more than 120 photos with captions of air force and army bases and training facilities to foreign agents since July 2013, for which he was paid 3,800 yuan (HK$4,800), the spokeswoman said.
Wu also passed on five top-secret documents and six other secret documents, which “posed a serious threat to our military security”, the agency said.
The youngest of the three, surnamed Gu, was born in 1991. The department said Gu was recruited by overseas agents in 2013 and approached a military base in Jiangsu on 29 occasions to shoot photos and video. He also tracked the movements of military vehicles. Gu was paid 34,460 yuan for his information, and was arrested by officers from the department in Suzhou in February.
The oldest of the three, a 53-year-old surnamed Zhao, 53, was paid 74,500 yuan for sending 11 secret documents from military schools and local government files to foreign agents. The report said Zhao has been a newspaper reporter for nearly 30 years.
Earlier this week, the US charged six Chinese citizens with economic espionage, including three professors from Tianjin University.
The six allegedly stole mobile phone technology including source code developed by two US companies to assist Chinese universities and companies on behalf of the Chinese government.
