Advertisement
What do we actually know about China’s mysterious spy agency?
- Unlike the CIA or MI6, the Ministry of State Security doesn’t have an official website or any publicly listed contacts
- So what is known about the sprawling espionage operation?
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
China’s usually low-profile spy agency, the Ministry of State Security or MSS, has been cast into the international spotlight in recent weeks.
Advertisement
On Thursday, the US Justice Department indicted two accused Chinese hackers for stealing commercial secrets and technologies from a dozen countries – both said to have been acting on behalf of the spy agency.
It came after an unprecedented move in October, when a senior official with the ministry, Xu Yanjun, was extradited to the US after being lured to and arrested in Belgium. Xu is accused of trying to steal trade secrets from multiple US aviation and aerospace companies.
The agency has also made headlines from within China, after it detained two Canadians on suspicion of “endangering national security” earlier this month – a move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s finance chief Sabrina Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States.
Intelligence agencies are by nature secretive, but China’s MSS seems to operate under a heavier veil of secrecy than most – unlike the CIA or MI6, it does not have an official website, any publicly listed contacts or spokesmen or women.
Advertisement
Advertisement