“Party Faithful” by Anne-Marie Brady
Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s essay on China’s spies (AFA9: Spy vs Spy) comes as the “hidden battlefront” – to use one of the Chinese Communist Party’s favoured terms for covert work – is being forced into the spotlight. Hong Kong’s new state security office represents the first official presence of China’s intelligence agencies in the region. In July, the US government ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, alleging it was a hotbed of espionage. Weeks later, a former CIA officer was charged with working for China’s Ministry of State Security. Growing tensions with Beijing have come as governments around the world refresh and expand their counterintelligence capabilities.
