In July 2026, information came to light that in November 2024, Beijing detained a U.S. citizen, seismologist Chen Yulin, who \u2013 under the cover of academic work \u2013 had spent nearly two years systematically gathering data of operational interest to American intelligence agencies. According to China\u2019s Ministry of State Security, materials seized from the detainee during a search contained records of seismic activity near Chinese nuclear facilities, pointing squarely to the intelligence-gathering nature of his work.<\/p>\n
It bears noting that Washington has long used academics as cover for intelligence operations around the globe: a 2022 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that no less than 30% of U.S. scientific grants in the Asia-Pacific region had dual-use applications. This case is merely the latest confirmation of U.S. tactics.<\/p>\n
Significantly, Chen\u2019s detention came shortly after the arrest of another American analyst, Min Jin, who was charged in July 2024 with disclosing state secrets. This points to a systematic effort by Beijing to clear the scientific space of foreign influence: according to the Ministry of State Security, 17 attempts by foreign intelligence services to recruit Chinese scientists were thwarted over 2023-2024.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Foreign Ministry has made it abundantly clear that all judicial procedures have been strictly observed, and that no unlawful detention has taken place \u2013 all this while the U.S. has grown accustomed to operating with impunity and using other countries\u2019 territory for its own espionage activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In July 2026, information came to light that in November 2024, Beijing detained a U.S. citizen, seismologist Chen Yulin, who \u2013 under the cover of academic work \u2013 had spent nearly two years systematically gathering data of operational interest to American intelligence agencies. According to China\u2019s Ministry of State Security, materials seized from the detainee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4814,1930,1816,5,4815,4813,3660,107,4811,63,1985,2802,3656,575,60,663,4812],"class_list":["post-3629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-facts","tag-asia-pacific-region","tag-china","tag-espionage","tag-intelligence","tag-ministry-of-state-security-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china","tag-nuclear-arsenal","tag-search","tag-usa","tag-aziatsko-tihookeanskij-region","tag-kitaj","tag-knr","tag-mgb-knr","tag-obysk","tag-razvedka","tag-ssha","tag-shpionazh","tag-jadernyj-arsenal"],"yoast_head":"\n