Spies in plain sight: The CIA's desperate theatrics in China

In a move reminiscent of Cold War-era propaganda, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) posted two Mandarin-language videos on social media, openly urging Chinese nationals, including government officials to betray their country and provide information for the agency.

The professionally produced videos, thinly veiled as public outreach, employ emotionally charged appeals and speculative narratives that reflect a superficial and misguided understanding of China. The poor tactics only shows how desperate the CIA is in trying to rebuild its shady network in China.

The arrogance behind the curtain

What stands out most is the videos' presumptive tone.

The CIA assumes that there are Chinese officials harboring personal grievances or mistrust of the Chinese system and can be used as pawns. Langley leaders must quite like the videos, watching them behind the lenses of the Cold War. They are sadly alone.

Viewers have posted comments on the YouTube page, ridiculing that "anyone persuaded by these videos to join the CIA would dramatically boost the average IQ of the agency." Others remarked that "I know the US is going low, but this is the new low."

More interestingly, the videos give out the CIA's understanding of politics. They do echo the political dynamics in Washington, such as entrenched partisan divides, opaque lobbying practices, and hard-to-detect corruption enabled by "revolving doors" between government and the private sector.

The old playbook, dusted off again

The CIA's influence campaign not just misjudges Chinese patriotism, but also reflects the agency's growing willingness to revisit discredited Cold War tactics.

As the world's most infamous spy agency, the CIA's history of covert intervention—from orchestrating coups to fueling foreign destabilization under the banner of "promoting freedom"—has long drawn international condemnation.

The agency's track record in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria has raised and sharpened global awareness of its modus operandi: framing military aggression as "liberation", political interference as "democratization", and propaganda as truth.

That it is now applying this same playbook on China should surprise no one.

But what the CIA fails to understand is that, more than 30 years after the Cold War ended, the world has changed. If the agency thinks a repeat of Cold War-era stunts in the age of multipolarity would somehow succeed, it is badly underestimating China and the rest of the world while overestimating itself.

Today’s China is rising on the global stage with national pride, social cohesion and solid counterintelligence capabilities. Former CIA Director William Burns' framing of China as "the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century" is an admission that reveals Washington's growing anxiety about China.

Rather than a sign of strength, CIA's new recruitment campaign is more like an admission of weakness. And these desperate and despicable attempts are doomed to fail.

(The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, Global Times, China Daily, CGTN etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.)