The CIA released two social media videos on Thursday, inviting disillusioned Chinese officials to monitor the United States in search of exploiting Chinese government corruption and crackdowns.
Films released across multiple platforms, Mandarin videos are similar to recruitment videos produced by the CIA in the past few years, with the aim of encouraging Russian to share secrets with U.S. officials, saying Russian language videos have proven to be successful.
Director John Ratcliffe vowed to make China a top priority at the CIA intelligence gathering, and he made video the latest example of this effort.
"Today, the CIA released a Mandarin video aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets," Ratcliffe said in a statement.
“In the history of our country, there is no more powerful challenge or competent strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party,” he said, adding: “Our institutions must continue to deal with this threat with urgency, creativity and courage, and these videos are just one of the ways we do so.”
The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Six months ago, the CIA released a text-only video in Mandarin that explains how to securely contact the CIA using "Dark Web", part of the Internet accessed only using dedicated software. Agent officials said the video was viewed 900,000 times.
CIA officials said that while it is difficult to speak out because of China's authoritarian government, more Chinese people voluntarily share information through the dark network.
"If it doesn't work, we won't make more videos," the official said. "We want Chinese citizens to know that we're always open to them."
CIA officials said the agency is interested in a variety of information in China, including traditional espionage activities, including advanced science, military and cyber technology, as well as the secrets of data and foreign policy.
In one of the videos, a young man portrayed as a junior communist faithfully accompanied a higher official who was trying out a new suit and shopping for expensive watches. Junior official narrated the video, sharing his frustration with the wealth gap between the party elite and the rest of Chinese society.
"We have dedicated our lives, but they are the people who benefit," he said. "We have taught us to follow the rules and work hard and we can make a better difference in life. But why can only a few people enjoy this happiness?"
Junior officials regretted the party’s promise of prosperity for all, “but the achievements of our collective efforts were obsessed with the selected few.” He eventually concluded that he “must train my own path.”
With the establishment of dramatic music, he walked out of the modest apartment. "The hardest part of the journey is the first step. It's time to start working towards your dreams," he said while typing on the link on his phone to contact the CIA secretly.
In the second video, a well-dressed senior party official attends a formal dinner while feeling his colleagues manipulate him. He fears that he can share the fate of comrades who have been removed from power.
"It's easy to be a memory," the official said. "And it's too common to disappear."
He said he could not allow his family’s fate to be in the hands of party officials and predicted that “whispers will get bigger.”
The official chose “another way” for his family and reached the CIA through a security portal on his phone. "Whatever my fate brings, my family will know about a good life," he said.
In February, Russia responded to the CIA's Russian language recruitment video to convince the US "patriots" to share secrets with Russian spy services.
U.S. officials warn that Chinese and Russian intelligence officials want to take advantage of the Trump administration’s decline in the federal workforce. Their hope is to recruit employees from the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies that have recently been offered acquisitions to Beijing and Moscow.