Source: Jun Zhengping Studio, PLA News and Communication Center Rong Media
What should a spy look like?
In most film and television works, spies are portrayed as cold-blooded, ruthless, and unpredictable. They are moody and angry, carrying all kinds of sophisticated equipment with them, and doing everything in their power to obtain information, even at the cost of harming the lives of innocent people.
A recent hit TV series showed the audience another kind of spy image: the protagonists Li Tang and Ding Meixi stayed on the mainland because of mission failure when they were young, and then started a family in Xiamen, becoming a spy couple who had been lurking for many years. In life, one of them is a taxi driver who works diligently every day, and the other is a Chinese teacher who secretly runs a cram school to subsidize the family. The couple who encounter a midlife crisis have to worry about the chicken feathers in the place where they live, but also have a headache with their daughter who is in the rebellious period of adolescence, and at the same time, they have to work hard to carry out the tasks assigned by their superiors and deal with the suspicion and temptation of their superiors. This pair of "senior spies" sacrificed their youth, health, family, and reputation for their work, just to live a good "retirement life". As a result, not only can the normal "salary" not be obtained, the "work expenses" are difficult to reimburse, and the "retirement" date is far away, but in the eyes of the superior, they are abandoned sons who can be sacrificed at any time.
Although there is no name, from the details such as the code names "Hualien", "Hsinchu" and "Taoyuan" used in the play, it is clear that this drama is based on Taiwanese spies. Watching the drama, perhaps the audience will be surprised: This year, the spies have been so miserable?
Although film and television works have elements of artistic processing, it can be seen from a number of espionage cases announced by the state security organs in recent years that the spies in reality are not "tall", "squandering like dirt", "omnipotent in heaven and earth" in people's stereotypes, but lurking in the general public and appearing in the image of ordinary people. On the battlefield of intelligence warfare and information warfare, where there is no smoke of gunfire, they are like glamorous rays, and they are everywhere.
After the founding of New China, the Taiwan authorities have continuously sent spies to the mainland to collect intelligence and carry out sabotage activities. With the constant changes in the cross-strait situation and international relations, Taiwan's intelligence and administrative departments have gradually focused on intelligence gathering, vigorously plotted against development personnel on the mainland of the motherland, and set up a spy intelligence network in an attempt to serve the Taiwan authorities. With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength and the profound changes in the international strategic pattern, foreign espionage and intelligence organs, including Taiwan, have been intensifying their espionage and intelligence activities against our country, and the scope has also been continuously extended from the traditional security field to the non-traditional security field.
If you paint a portrait of these foreign spies, it should look like this: they are gentle and thoughtful "lovers", considerate and caring for "you", and your relationship has grown by leaps and bounds in a short period of time; they are "friends" of the ancient road, who know that "you" are economically embarrassed, and provide "you" with a "bright way" to make quick money; they are "friends" with similar interests to "you", and you chat deeply on some niche hobbies and share the latest information with each other...
The "lovers" of "you" often ask "you" to collect this information to share with her, and once "you" refuse, she threatens to send a group of messages to "you" relatives and friends of "you are a liar";
As a state official, "you" have access to many internal documents with secret grades, and "your" "friends" say that these can be sold for money, and the financially strapped "you" do so. When "you" realize that something is wrong and want to stop, the "friend" tells "you" that at this time, the "golden basin washes hands" and makes "you" discredited, threatening and inducing "you" to continue to engage in the crime of selling secrets;
"You" who works in a national defense science and industry unit has a little research on weapons and equipment, and once accidentally met a girl who likes the military through WeChat "people nearby", "you". She admired "you" for her rich knowledge reserves, often consulted "you" about the number of weapons, equipment information, the difference between new and old models, etc., "you" was touted to fluttering, every time she knew everything, until the state security department came to the door, "you" learned that this female netizen who had not yet met was actually a "male spy", and "you" had been suspected of committing the crime of leaking secrets...
Veterans, international students, teachers and students of colleges and universities, military "enthusiasts", as well as military enterprises, national defense scientific research units, government agencies, etc., these groups of personnel are the key targets of spy organizations to infiltrate and rebel. In addition to traditional methods such as money bribery, emotional corruption, and pornography, with the development of science and technology, foreign spies have also used many new technologies with the times, especially using the convenience of social media to carry out activities. It can be seen from the espionage cases cracked in the past that many people subjectively do not have the willingness to betray national interests and be willing to be accomplices of others, but because of their lack of vigilance, they unconsciously fall into various traps. Some people feel that "just take a photo" and "just send an email", but every message sent unconsciously may be used by spies, and they themselves have become the "initiators" of leaking state secrets and endangering national security.
At present, the international battlefield is changing, external threats are intensifying day by day, the great power game is strategically contained, and the situation of defense and secrecy is becoming increasingly severe. In 2018 and 2020, China's state security organs twice launched special operations against the Taiwan authorities and their espionage and intelligence agencies, of which "2018 - Thunder Operation" cracked more than 100 cases, "Thunder - 2020" cracked hundreds of cases. From more than 100 in 2018 to hundreds in 2020, the rise in the number of cases reflects that the Taiwan authorities and their spy and intelligence agencies are trapped in beasts, almost frantically carrying out various intelligence infiltration and sabotage operations against the mainland of the motherland. Under the severe situation, everyone may be a "source of leaks", and everyone must hold up a "protective umbrella". It is not difficult to identify espionage means and prevent spies from being "routined", as long as everyone can attach importance to ideological concepts, learn relevant laws and regulations on national security, and improve the awareness of prevention and identification ability, so that spies can have nowhere to hide.
For the military, defense secrecy is an important part of military security. "If the machine is not secret, it will not be done." Military secrets are related to the victory or defeat of war, leaking a single byte can be a problem, exposing a frame of image may lead to disaster. Only when every officer and soldier strictly abides by the laws and regulations on security and secrecy, heightens their vigilance, distinguishes between right and wrong, tightens the strings of thought at all times, closes loopholes in leaking secrets everywhere, and keeps everything secret, can they truly be airtight and foolproof.
To do a good job in counter-espionage work, it is inseparable from the support of the masses of the people and the joint efforts of the whole society. Improving the awareness of prevention, the ability to identify, and strengthening the concept of national security are the skills that every citizen should master. This is a long-term and arduous task, but it must be done in a down-to-earth manner, and only in this way can we gather the strength of the whole people to safeguard national security and jointly build a people's defense line for national security.
"We are willing to create a broad space for peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any room for various forms of 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities." As for those spies who are hiding in dark corners and acting as the eagle dogs and running dogs of the Taiwan authorities, they should understand that any act of betraying the country and the nation will harm others and themselves and leave a bad reputation for eternity; any act that endangers national reunification and harms national security interests will eventually set themselves on fire and set themselves on fire, pay the price they deserve, and what awaits them will only be arrested according to law and severely punished.
(Produced by Jun Zhengping Studio and PLA News and Communication Center)