An education campaign for the Counter-Espionage Law in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province on November 1, 2023 Photo: VCG

As the fourth Chinese People's Police Day was celebrated on Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) released details about three spy cases, honoring the state security officers' contributions to China's counter-espionage security work, which achieved significant progress in 2023.

2024 is a crucial year for the comprehensive establishment, accumulation, and consolidation of the new pattern of the work for state security agencies, said Chen Yixin, Minister of State Security, during a summary conference in December 2023.

In the latest publicity video released by the Publicity Department of the MSS, details of the two apprehended spies were introduced.

Chen Wei, who used to be a network administrator at a company affiliated with a military research institute, was sentenced to life imprisonment and was deprived of political rights for life by the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court in March 2019 on charges of espionage.

The investigation into Chen revealed that he had stolen and provided more than 5,500 documents from the research institute to foreign intelligence agencies, including 146 classified, 1,753 confidential, and a large number of other internal documents.

Chen encountered a foreigner claiming to be a technical expert and proposed to buy some technical materials from China. Chen, taking advantage of his position at the research institute, which involved core classified materials, collected classified documents for the foreigner.

Although Chen later realized that the foreigner was not an average technical expert and proposed to terminate the cooperation, he was coerced into continuing the espionage activity by the foreigner, who used the intelligence previously provided by Chen as leverage to blackmail him. Chen quit his job in 2014 and was caught by the State Security Bureau in Beijing in March 2015.

The second spy, named Zhao Xuejun, who used to be a scientific researcher in the aerospace field, belonged to the category of personnel with access to classified information. After being turned, he betrayed information about China's scientific and research progress to foreign intelligence agencies.

In August 2022, Zhao was sentenced to seven years in prison and was deprived of political rights for three years, with personal assets totaling 200,000 yuan ($27,902) confiscated on charges of espionage. Zhao provided intelligence on the latest research developments in China's aerospace field to foreign agencies.

According to the MSS, Zhao studied abroad in 2009 and befriended a foreign man who treated both Zhao and his family members very friendly.

Before Zhao returned to China, the foreign man disclosed his work with an intelligence agency and persuaded Zhao to cooperate with the overseas intelligence agency.

Taking advantage of his position at the scientific research institute, Zhao was paid hundreds of thousands of yuan for his espionage activities.

The state security authority took compulsory measures against Zhao in June 2019.

In addition, the MSS also disclosed on its WeChat account the details of the arrest of a suspected spy who fled to Xishuangbanna, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and attempted to illegally cross the border.

The person surnamed Li, manipulated by foreign intelligence agencies after being turned, was planted as a staff member in a key Chinese department. The successful arrest of the suspect prevented significant losses for China.

To catch the suspect, a state security officer named Song Bin (pseudonym) waited by the Lancangjiang River for more than one week during the hot summer in August.