China’s feared Ministry of State Security has won the attention of readers on social media with a lurid cautionary tale of a state company employee caught in a honey trap set by foreign spies while on an overseas business trip.
The usually secretive ministry recently launched a propaganda campaign warning people about the dangers of foreign spies operating anywhere and everywhere in China, and announced earlier this month it had arrested a British spy amid state media warnings of "007s in everyday life."
Now, it’s warning them not to allow their sexual desires lead them into a compromising position while overseas, offering up the salacious story of the hapless Li Si, who gets into hot water after “looking for beauty” in a foreign land.
In a recent post to its official account on the social media platform WeChat titled “Beauty hunter becomes the prey!” the ministry described Li as “elated” when “selecting a gorgeous exotic girl” after being invited to experience local nightlife by a tour guide in an unnamed country.
“Li Si readily agreed and followed the tour guide to the local pornographic entertainment venue,” the post reads. “He never realized that ... the hunt had begun.”
Li had also broken the rules and taken a classified work laptop out of the country “for convenience,” enabling a number of secrets to fall into foreign hands, it said.
Until a loud banging on the door, and a raid by “several burly foreigners in uniforms,” who took photos of Li naked before taking him away and forcing him to spy for them on his return to China.
‘Fell deeper into the quagmire’
The warning comes after a string of arrests of foreign nationals and raids on foreign consultancies in the wake of amendments to China's Counterespionage Law in 2023, which has been criticized by investors for its vague definition of what exactly constitutes espionage.
“When Li Si returned to China, he thought he would be able to escape their clutches, but his nightmare was far from over,” the post said.
“Li Si was in turmoil and couldn’t sleep at first, but he was afraid of losing his current lifestyle and bright future, so he said nothing to his employers,” it said. “Step by step, he fell deeper into the quagmire.”
“It may seem that this was a chain reaction caused by Li Si’s impulsive indiscretions, but in fact it was a premeditated and planned operation,” it warned. “Overseas espionage and intelligence agencies had been watching Li Si for a long time.”
“Special bars and dodgy pornographic entertainment venues were carefully selected in advance as the hunting ground of overseas intelligence agencies, to ensnare their prey, Li Si, and ultimately steal our national secrets,” it said, warning Chinese citizens overseas to “keep it clean” and not accept any apparently casual invitations.
“If you are asked to join a spy organization, you must delay or refuse with appropriate reasons, and report to the relevant departments in a timely manner,” the post said.
“Those who truthfully explain the situation to the national security organs in a timely manner and show repentance may not be held accountable,” it said, adding that the characters were pseudonyms, implying that the story was based on an actual case.
‘Total control’ is ‘impossible’
Commentator Yan Ligeng said it's no coincidence that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is highly focused on threats to "national security" at a time of economic downturn.
“There is only one reason and logic behind this constant increase in national security [propaganda], and that is the economic situation,” Yan told RFA in an interview on Tuesday.
“They need to use national security measures as a way of warning the whole of society, particularly dissidents and anyone with a different opinion,” he said.
A Shanxi-based academic who gave only the surname Chen for fear of reprisals said the government is likely concerned that the large numbers of Chinese nationals who study overseas every year will become affected by ideas like freedom and democracy.
“China’s growing isolation from the rest of the world and the ideological differences between China, the United States and other Western countries will inevitably mean more people regarded by the authorities as beyond the pale,” Chen said.
But he said it is unlikely to be very effective.
“They won’t be able to wield total power, and total control of the whole population is impossible,” he said.
China already has a highly sophisticated set of blocks, controls, filters and online surveillance that strictly controls what its citizens are able to do or see online, known as the Great Firewall, as well as a nationwide " public opinion management" operation under the Central Propaganda Department.
Yet people in China frequently challenge those in power, despite pervasive surveillance, a " grid" system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and a targeted " stability maintenance" system aimed at controlling critics of the government before they take action.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.