China says it doesn’t use ‘honey traps’ – but warns citizens against seductive foreign spies

Detailed summary

Country has denied any suggestion it spied on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, calling such claims ‘groundless speculation and slander’

As more information emerges regarding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy, many have questioned whether he was the target of an intentional “honey trap,” in which a target is seduced and then blackmailed or surveilled for intelligence.

China has denied any suggestion it spied on Mr. Huang, calling such claims “groundless speculation and slander,” while state media has pushed back on the idea that Beijing would ever countenance such an operation in the first place.

“To my knowledge, the Chinese intelligence never specifically employs the ‘honey trap’ tactic,” Hu Xijin, an influential commentator and former editor of the state-run Global Times, wrote Monday. “While we take precautions against such tactics being used against us, we never require our female intelligence officers to ‘sleep with’ someone to achieve their mission objectives.”

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Mr. Hu is certainly correct on one point: In recent years, China has repeatedly warned citizens about foreign seducers targeting them for intelligence, part of a wider public anti-espionage campaign.

In 2016, the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence agency, plastered Beijing with a comic book-style poster depicting the story of Xiao Li, a young female civil servant seduced by a red-haired foreigner called David, who eventually convinces her to provide him sensitive documents.

“I didn’t know he was a spy,” Xiao Li sobs in the final panel. “He used me!”

Who is Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman tied to Nvidia's CEO? Reuters

MSS often highlights alleged honey trap operations it has shut down, including one last year in which a “beautiful female blogger lured and recruited more than 100 people within China,” according to an official release.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Globe and Mail (Report on Business). To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.