China arrested a worker from a military industrial group for allegedly spying for the CIA, according to a statement posted by China's civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State, on the country's main social media site WeChat.
The worker, whose surname is Zeng, is accused of providing military secrets to the CIA in exchange for large sums of money, according to the Ministry of State.
Zeng, 52, was sent to Italy by his employer but met with an official with the U.S. Embassy who turned out to be a CIA agent, The Associated Press quoted from the ministry's statement.
"Zeng gradually developed a psychological dependence on (the U.S. official), who took the opportunity to indoctrinate him with Western values," read the statement, posted on the ministry's WeChat page.
"Having finished overseas study, Zeng returned to China and continued to have multiple secret meetings with the CIA agents and provided a great amount of key intelligence and collected funds for spying," the ministry said.
The announcement is the latest in a string of public accusations of espionage between Washington and Beijing.
Last week, the U.S. arrested two U.S. Navy sailors on accusations of providing military secrets to China.
Relations between China and the U.S. plunged to their lowest level in years after the U.S. earlier this year shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had flown over U.S. territory.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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