In a highly unusual public move, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has released a Chinese-language recruitment video explicitly targeting members of China’s military establishment, signaling a significant escalation in intelligence efforts amid deepening U.S.–China strategic competition.
Released on the CIA’s official social media channels, including YouTube, the video — narrated in Mandarin portrays a fictional mid-level officer in People’s Liberation Army disillusioned with China’s leadership and internal military purges. It depicts the officer questioning his service and ultimately choosing to contact U.S. intelligence, suggesting that such a move is a way “to fight for my family and my nation.”
The clip’s narrative leans on themes of corruption, leadership removal and concern for the future framing the decision to reach out to U.S. authorities as a kind of moral choice against a direction the narrator portrays as harmful. It concludes with direct instructions for how potential informants can establish contact via encrypted channels.
U.S. intelligence officials say this video is part of a broader effort to enhance human intelligence gathering inside China, especially after Beijing’s extensive anti-corruption purge in the top ranks of its military including high-profile investigations of senior generals. The campaign builds on earlier Mandarin-language outreach efforts aimed at other Chinese officials.
The move has triggered a strong response from Beijing. Officials in the People’s Republic of China government condemned the video as foreign interference and infringing on national sovereignty, with the foreign ministry warning it will take “necessary measures” to counter what it characterizes as external infiltration and sabotage.
Analysts view the video’s publication as part of the intensifying intelligence and geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing; a contest encompassing technology, military influence and espionage. The public nature of the recruitment effort is highly unusual for the CIA and reflects how digital media is being used to reach potential insiders in states with tightly controlled information environments.
The developments underscore rising tensions in U.S.–China relations, where intelligence campaigns and countermeasures increasingly play out in the open even as both governments publicly maintain official diplomatic channels.