Spy kids

ESPIONAGE

In battles with foreign spies, even schoolchildren have a role to play

May 27th 2017 | BEIJING

CHINA’s government regards spy-catching as a game for everyone. In April the municipal government of Beijing started offering rewards of up to 500,000 yuan ($70,000) for finding one. It called on citizens to be on their guard against agents attempting to “infiltrate, subvert, split or sabotage China”. Also last month, an official publishing house produced new books for primary-school children to mark the country’s second “National Security Education Day”. They included fun games such as “Find the spy”. State media said this was part of an effort to mobilise students of all ages as “a huge counter-spy force”.

It is not known whether this approach has secured important leads. But in recent days official newspapers have been crowing about a reported victory for China’s counter-intelligence efforts. On May 20th the New York Times said that between 2010 and 2012 China had uncovered a network of some 20 agents, planted deep within China’s bureaucracy, who had been feeding information to the CIA. This was said to have been one of the biggest such breaches in recent decades. The newspaper said some of the agents had been killed, including one who was shot in front of his colleagues as a warning.

Xi Jinping, who took over as China’s leader in 2012, appears even more obsessed than his recent predecessors with catching spies, stemming leaks and crushing subversives. He has introduced tough new laws on national security and made himself overlord of the security agencies.

A fear of losing secrets may in part explain Mr Xi’s eagerness to secure the return of thousands of officials and politically connected businesspeople who have moved abroad, many of them to avoid charges of graft. Some such as Ling Wancheng, the brother of a former chief-of-staff to Hu Jintao, an ex-president, are familiar with the party’s inner workings. Mr Ling has denied reports that he has divulged nuclear secrets and information about China’s leaders to America’s spies.

Last month China said Interpol, an international police co-operation body, had issued a notice to its members that Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman in self-imposed exile, was wanted in China for corruption. Mr Guo has been broadcasting almost daily reports on YouTube of high-level intrigue in China (information that the party considers top secret). Many Chinese netizens, far from abhorring his leaks, appear to relish them—if, that is, they are able to dodge the hyperactive censors.