China ‘Arrests High-Level US Spy’ in Hong Kong
A Chinese security ministry official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the US and passing on state secrets, Hong Kong media reports say.
The man, who was private secretary to a vice-minister in the security ministry, was arrested earlier this year, various press reports say.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to comment on the reports.
If confirmed, it would be the third major incident to hit China-US relations in the past few months.
It would also be the highest-level spy case involving China and the US to become public since 1985, when intelligence official Yu Qiangsheng defected to the US.
The official had been recruited by the CIA, local press and Reuters report.
‘Pretty woman trap’
Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily quotes the monthly New Way as saying on 25 May that the official “fell into a pretty woman trap” set up by the CIA.