China detains alleged US spy: report

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China detains alleged US spy: report

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Chinese government detained a security official this year for passing sensitive information to US.

02 June,2012 10:07 am

Citing an unnamed person with knowledge of the case, the The New York Timesnewspaper said the official is believed to be an employee in the Ministry of State Security, Chinas main intelligence agency.The United States and Chinese governments have not given any hint publicly of the discovery of the spying suspect, the report said.The official was detained around the time that the Communist Party was dealing with a fragile moment in Chinas relations with the United States, the paper noted.In February, a former Chinese police chief drove to the United States consulate in Chengdu to present evidence linking the wife of a Politburo member, Bo Xilai, to the killing last year of a British businessman, the paper recalled.The police chief, Wang Lijun, was escorted to Beijing by officials from the Ministry of State Security after spending a night in the consulate.It is unclear what kind of information the detained Chinese official is suspected of having given to the United States and whether that information has compromised any operations by the Chinese government, The Times said.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, visiting Oslo on Friday, declined to comment on the reports of an espionage arrest, as did officials at the State Department and the White House in Washington, the paper said.A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the detention came during the same period as a series of investigations begun after the revelations in the Bo affair, the report said.The investigations, authorized by Chinas top leaders, have expanded beyond Bo to the Ministry of State Security and now include allegations of improper use of the security services by various Chinese officials and corruption, The Times noted.It was not clear that the espionage case was related in any way to the other investigations, the report said.There is clearly some very intense stuff going on with the security ministry, the paper quoted the unnamed official as saying. Its hard to tell exactly, but its clearly maneuvering going on after Bo.