The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been turning heads for all the wrong reasons lately. In a move that can only be described as bizarre, the agency recently dropped a couple of Putonghua-language videos on social media, openly trying to recruit Chinese citizens as spies. Unsurprisingly, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has weighed in, calling the whole affair another "bewildering operation" that has turned the world's so-called top intelligence agency into an international laughingstock.
The MSS argues this isn't about genuine intelligence gathering. Instead, it’s a desperate attempt by the CIA to puff itself up by rehashing the old "China threat" narrative. Why? To fight for a bigger budget, which has been consistently on the chopping block under the Trump administration, and to claw back some political influence in Washington. It seems the spooks are spooked about their own job security.
A Cringeworthy Recruitment Drive
According to The New York Times, these new videos are cut from the same cloth as a series aimed at recruiting Russians, a tactic former CIA bosses claim helps reel in new informants. The agency's director has even gone on record saying China is the CIA's "top priority." But the MSS sees it differently. In a scathing article titled "The CIA's Open Recruitment of 'Chinese Spies' is Yet Another Farcical Performance," they tear the campaign to shreds.
The MSS describes the videos as "painstakingly crafted recruitment advertisements" filled with clumsy rhetoric and slander. They argue it exposes the absurd logic and hysterical frenzy gripping American intelligence. The global reaction was swift, with netizens around the world mocking the CIA's ham-fisted attempt at espionage, proving once again that the self-proclaimed "intelligence hegemon" has lost the plot.
China's Ministry of State Security didn't mince words, calling the CIA's recruitment stunt "yet another farcical performance" on their official WeChat account.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
Let's be real, the CIA has a long and sordid history of serving America's geopolitical ambitions. It's built a global network to meddle in other countries' affairs, all to maintain US hegemony. For years, it has targeted China with intelligence theft and infiltration, peddling fantasies like the "China collapse" theory and cooking up "Chinese spy" stories to cover its own incompetence and persecute the innocent.
But facts are stubborn things. The "Chinese spy theory" is a classic case of the thief shouting "catch the thief," and the "China collapse theory" has itself collapsed. The MSS makes it clear: any plot to halt China's national rejuvenation is doomed from the start.
The timing of this recruitment drive is also telling. Since the Trump administration came to power, federal agencies have been facing the axe, and the CIA is no exception. With a "buyout program" already pushing people out the door and more cuts on the horizon, the agency is facing a crisis. This high-profile, public campaign is a desperate, attention-seeking stunt to "recruit troops" and convince Washington they're still relevant, trying to avoid becoming a "discarded piece" in the next political shake-up.
Trump's budget cuts have left the CIA scrambling for relevance - and apparently willing to try anything, even embarrassingly public spy recruitment drives.
From Professional Spooks to Amateur Hour
It’s almost comical. The CIA, once a feared name on the international intelligence stage, is now resorting to crude "advertising" to entice people into treason. This "child's play," as the MSS calls it, isn't just a provocation, it's a clumsy farce that shows the world the agency's "professional halo" has well and truly dimmed. It reveals an organization that's all bark and no bite—strong on the outside, but hollow within.
This is all part of a well-worn script in Washington. Government agencies have long known that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." To secure more funding, they first wildly exaggerate an external threat. Then, they draw up elaborate plans and reports to "deal" with this fabricated crisis. Finally, they use this to push their demands through Congress, turning departmental wish lists into national policy and pocketing the profits. It's a cynical game played at the taxpayer's expense.
It's Always About the Money
With its budget shrinking, the CIA’s "favor-seeking" has gone into overdrive. From setting up a "China Mission Center" to launching a "Third Intelligence Age" focused on China, and now openly recruiting spies on social media, its actions have become more radical and its methods cruder. At the end of the day, when there's not enough pie to go around, the only move left is to grab the "lifeline" of the "China threat" to prove your own value and swindle Congress and the American people out of more money.
The Ministry of State Security concludes with a solemn warning to the CIA and its ilk: trying to turn the Chinese people against their own country is a fool's errand. Any plot to infiltrate China is destined to fail. China's national security agencies are ready, determined, and able to defend the nation's interests against such clumsy provocations.
Mao Paishou
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
The New Year barely begins, and Washington drops a flashbang on global diplomacy. A sitting president is forcibly detained and taken out of his own country — a move that blows past diplomatic convention and rams straight into international law’s red lines. On Taiwan, the chatter instantly turns into self-projection, as some people try to shoehorn a faraway conflict into the island’s own storyline. Anxiety spreads fast.
Maduro in cuffs, in a US federal courtroom — the raid’s image problem. (AP)
The South China Morning Post says the US action against Venezuela ignites a fierce debate on the island. Some commentary links the raid to the PLA’s recent encirclement drills around Taiwan, arguing parts of those exercises look, at least in form, like the US’s so-called “decapitation operations”: essentially a leadership-targeting operation. Some American scholars also warn this kind of play could set a dangerous precedent and invite copycats.
“Justice Mission-2025” rolls on as the Eastern Theater Command drills.
That debate doesn’t stay academic for long. It pumps up the island’s unease, with some people asking whether the same kind of military method could one day be copied and pasted into the Taiwan Strait. Even if it mostly lives in public talk, a high-tension political environment turns speculation into something that feels like risk.
People on the island don’t read the US move the same way. A small minority treats it as a US power flex, packed with intel integration, precision strike, and long-range reach. But the more clear-eyed view is harsher: such action chips away at the basic consensus of international order — because if major powers can raid at will and topple other countries’ leaders for their own aims, “rules” stop acting like rules.
Anxiety turns into politics
That worry quickly lands in Taiwan’s political arena. On Jan 5, multiple Taiwan legislators pressed Deputy Defense Minister Hsu Szu-chien at the legislature, asking how he views the US action against Venezuela and whether the PLA might replicate a similar model in the Taiwan Strait. Hsu doesn’t answer head-on. Rather, he merely mentioned preparing and drilling for all kinds of sudden contingencies.
Then he pivots to money. He urges the legislature to pass military budget appropriations quickly and plays up the urgency of delays eating into “preparation time.”
That kind of sidestep, unsurprisingly, only deepened public unease.
SCMP, citing multiple security experts, says the DPP authorities try to play down the association — but outsiders don’t fully rule it out. The reason, those experts argue, is the PLA’s continuing push to improve its ability to shift from exercises to real combat. On the island, that alone works like an anxiety amplifier.
Back in the real world, the PLA Eastern Theater Command has been running “Justice Mission-2025” exercises since Dec 29 last year. Official statements spell out the purpose: a stern warning to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces and external interference, and a move aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and unification. The message is public and clear, there’s no gray area.
Some US think-tank voices pull a more confrontational takeaway from the US action. American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Hal Brands warns the US raid on Venezuela could create a “demonstration effect,” and he speculates China would watch those tactics closely. Some military commentators on the island seized the moment to hype fears, claiming the mainland might act during a “window” when US power is stretched thin.
That line of talk sounds like analysis, but it functions like a panic pump. US scholar Lev Nachman even says bluntly on social media that if a sudden military action hits the Taiwan Strait, the island could suffer “instant collapse” — not just militarily, but as a psychological shock to society.
KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun, in an interview, points to Donald Trump repeatedly stressing a shift of strategic focus toward affairs in the Americas. She says the Venezuela incident should be examined through the framework of international law, and she calls for disputes in any region to be resolved by peaceful means rather than force.
Cheng also reiterates the KMT position: uphold the “1992 Consensus,” oppose “Taiwan independence,” and urge Lai Ching-te to clearly oppose “Taiwan independence,” not touch legal red lines, and avoid continuously raising cross-strait conflict risks.
Rules talk meets reality
International reaction also turns critical of Washington’s approach. Multiple governments and regional organizations speak up quickly, condemning the action as a violation of the UN Charter, which explicitly prohibits using force to threaten or violate another nation’s territorial integrity and political independence. The telling part is the silence: the Western countries that often talk about “international rules” either zipped their mouths, or danced around the question this time.
Reuters says that even though China, Russia, and others clearly condemn the US behavior, the Trump administration is unlikely to face strong pressure from allies as a result. That selective muteness, by itself, drains the credibility of the international order.
On Jan. 5, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian commented again, saying the US actions clearly violate international law and the basic norms of international relations, and violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China calls on the US to ensure the personal safety of President Maduro and his wife, immediately release them, stop subverting the Venezuelan government, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation.
