Author: Reuben F. Johnson

Warsaw

There is a common and increasingly frequent theme that runs through most of the conversations I have with friends and colleagues in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). What they will tell you is the society as a whole seems to be progressively angrier and increasingly dissatisfied. This sentiment is also reaching the point where there is almost a permanent atmosphere of hostility, said a resident of one of the PRC’s largest cities I spoke to this week. “You almost do not want to go outside anymore,” was the situation that this individual and so many others find so disturbing and off-putting. “People are now incredibly aggressive and will run over you – literally and figuratively – if you get in their way. You can see that almost no one is happy with their lot in life anymore and they take it out on everyone around them.”

Then there is Xi Jinping’s famous anti-corruption campaign. Originally billed as a drive to root out corruption that had flourished during the Hu Jintao era with an end objective of restoring good governance, what it has turned into is something completely different. It is now a catch-all label that has expanded to cover any number of actions that have nothing to do with the usual activities associated with corrupt activity. What began as a fight against criminal abuse of power in state institutions that individuals were using to enrich themselves has now widened into a fight against everything from disloyalty to “superstitious” behaviour. The campaign has sparked deep dissatisfaction and anxiety across China’s political and military establishments. What Xi’s programme has become now is an unrelenting, years-long purge that has alienated officials, fostered widespread bureaucratic paralysis, and deepened public cynicism inside of the PRC. As one scholar of the of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wrote earlier this year, “the data suggest that intensified anti-corruption efforts are not simply a ‘new normal’, as some claim, but a sign that Xi is trapped in a ‘forever war’ that he is not winning but cannot afford to stop fighting.”

In the vein of one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity, this situation has not escaped the attention of the National Security Bureau (NSB) in the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. “A disaffected population can produce a sizeable population of defectors,” said a former US intelligence official who spoke to me. “In a system like the one imposed on the population by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) it also does not take much to create sentiments of resentment,” he explained. “When many Chinese are unable to reach the rung on the ladder of life that they feel they belong on, it is usually some aspect of the CCP’s rule that is what they see as the key obstruction that is responsible. Those are the kind of people that you want to find a way to connect with – to use that resentment to your advantage,” he explained.

The Digital Portal and Regional Targeting

The NSB’s thinking today is working along this track. And that train of thought has been responsible for the agency creating a digital portal to capitalise on those resentments. The portal gives officials and persons in positions that have access to valuable information within the PRC system the opportunity to leak intelligence and other sensitive information to the ROC. This new electronic link created by the NSB can supposedly also even provide a channel for those who wish to defect.

This electronic communications bridge has been established by the NSB and other intelligence organizations in Taipei as a means of exploiting the growing internal unrest within Mainland PRC. The portal features an AI-generated promotional video that focuses on the escalating discontent as an introduction to encourage those who wish to become clandestine sources. The video depicts a PRC civil servant watching as his colleagues around him are being investigated without warning or justification and then abruptly removed from their positions. The main character in the video is then seen reflecting on how this atmosphere of fear feels wrong and says to himself how “the old comrades are inexplicably vanishing one by one.” Even more interesting, is the fact that the voice on the audio track has a northern Chinese accent and simplified character subtitles instead of the older traditional Chinese characters that are used in the ROC. This is the accent heard in parts of northeastern PRC, or Dongbei (东北), which comprises the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.

But what is so special about Dongbei that the NSB would want to make it the focus of its campaign to recruit persons inside of the PRC?

This region of the PRC is home to some of the nation’s largest and most important defence industrial enterprises. Liaoning Province is a critical hub for both the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF). Among other industrial sites, there is the PRC’s primary nuclear submarine shipyard Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Indutry (Huludao). This facility has undergone significant expansion in recent years and is responsible for producing the PLAN’s nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) and ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), including the Type 094 and the next-generation Type 09V.

Then there is and the core aircraft carrier construction and maintenance infrastructure at the Dailan Naval Base and Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC). This is historically has been and currently still is a massive industrial site for the PRC’s maritime defence industry. It is the birthplace and primary maintenance hub of China’s first operational aircraft carrier, the CV-16 Liaoning (Type 001), and the CV-17 Shandong (Type 002). It also constructs major surface combatants, such as the Type 055 guided-missile cruisers.

The coastal cities host other state-owned shipyards and major operational naval bases and military aviation enterprises. One of these is the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC). This already outsized and expanding state-owned complex is one of the two PRC premier fighter jet development and manufacturing centres. It is responsible for manufacturing the J-11, the carrier-capable J-15, the J-16 long-range strike fighter and the J-35A/B stealth fighter designs.

Nearby is the Shenyang Engine Design and Research Institute (known for years as 606 Institute) that develops and tests military jet engines. These are some of the most important military aeroengines used in the PRC, such as the WS-10-series that are used in all the PRC’s indigenous military aircraft. The first major next-generation fighter aircraft developed in the PRC – the WS-15 engine that is the main powerplant for the famous Chengdu J-20 combat aircraft – also comes from this institute.

These and other industrial sites mean that for any intelligence organisation this region of the PRC fits the definition of a “target-rich environment.” If you are the ROC, you realise that these subs, these aircraft carriers, these submarines, are the weapons that will be used against you if the PLA ever attempt to invade your nation. Therefore, if there is a region of the PRC that you would want to focus your recruitment efforts on – this one would be it.

Secure Communications

The video concludes with the official purchasing a new, “clean” mobile phone that he would use only to access the portal, poignantly stating, “Now is the time to change.”

Creating this new site is regarded as a marked escalation of the intelligence war being waged on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Not surprisingly, this initiative is similar in its methods to those used by the US and allied nations against Russia and other adversaries. It also mirrors the techniques used by Israel’s intelligence services to elicit information from hostile nations and inside strongholds for Hamas and other terrorist organisations.

The site is predictably blocked by the PRC’s massive and pervasive internet blocking mechanisms, known throughout the world as the “Great Firewall.” However, it can still be accessed via the use of one of the virtual private networks (VPN) that are increasingly popular in the PRC. The NSB have stated that this portal is aimed at “expanding the collection of intelligence on China’s political, military, economic, and social developments.” Its structure mirrors those practices advertised by intelligence agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and, as mentioned above, Israel. 

The ROC intelligence service states that to ensure that any potential informant can safely and securely contact the NSB, the agency provides step-by-step instructions in Chinese on how to covertly communicate with the agency online. “Upon accessing the page, Chinese nationals will be directed to different procedures depending on whether they are located inside mainland China or overseas and will follow six security guidelines to complete the contact and submission process,” said the NSB announcement. These six security guidelines include using mobile phones or tablets not produced by Chinese IT firms. They are supposed to be restored to factory settings and then connected only to those Wi-Fi networks without a requirement for real-name authentication, according to the NSB guidelines.

Growing Unrest Makes for Increasing Opportunities

By any objective criteria, there has been a long-running – albeit slowing growing – atmosphere of domestic instability and unrest in the PRC. The NSB are expecting that their secure, clandestine channel is going to bear some fruit. Ideally, this would be in the form of individuals in the Mainland who are disillusioned with Beijing’s tightening political and economic control, as well as a deterioration in the standards of living and opportunities for advancement. “A growing range of social and livelihood-related problems,” have fuelled this public discontent, is the NSB assessment. This is promoting a desire for a change in the PRC ruling order among certain segments of the population.

The NSB were encouraged to exploit these trends and to, as one government source in Taipei said, to “expand the bureau’s diverse intelligence sources.” But ROC officials also state that this new portal is a response to what they have experienced as an increasing number of individuals who have been voluntarily reaching out to Taiwanese authorities but there has been no mechanism in place to harness those frustrations. 

Two years ago, the American CIA produced a similar video aimed at recruiting sources in Russia. “Those around you may not want to hear the truth. But we do. You are not powerless,” says the video soundtrack. At the time it was the latest in a series of recruitment videos targeting Russia and included instructions on channels to use in contacting the CIA. The NSB may have been motivated in making its own pitch to disaffected PRC nationals based on the success of the US intelligence service cultivating sources in Russia, Iran – as well as in the PRC. And those techniques are working. A CIA official speaking on condition of anonymity remarked to news services, saying “we are [now] seeing more outreach from Russians as a result of these videos.”

The CIA’s example of these recruitment methods is undoubtedly one of the reasons for the ROC deciding to come up with their version using a very similar tactic, said the retired US intelligence official. “Remember Deng Xiaoping’s cat theory (貓論) – the economic concept that says, “it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, if it catches mice it’s a good“ (不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫), which was his justification for adopting free-market techniques in the PRC’s communist, centrally-controlled economic system,” he commented. “This initiative by the ROC is sort of a take on this same idea: use something that works – even if it is not a practice you have ever considered or implemented before. What is certain is the longer Xi continues on his present course the more likely this new ROC portal is to attract potential defectors,” he concluded.

Sources:

Andrew Wederman, “Xi Jinping’s forever war on corruption,” East Asia Forum, 4 April 2026.

Associated Press, “Taiwan’s intelligence agency launches webpage for Chinese nationals to report tips,” (https://report.nsb.gov.tw), 14 June 2026.

“國安局公布中國民眾聯繫窗口 拓展多元情資管道”, National Security Bureau of the Republic of China, 13 June 2026.

 Andrew Osborn, “CIA tries to recruit double agents in Russia with new video,” Reuters, 23 January 2024.

 Reuters, “CIA seeks to recruit Russian officials with video about truth”, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cia-seeks-recruit-russian-officials-with-silky-video-about-truth-2023-09-08/, 8 September 2023.