China says ex-government worker to be executed for spying

A former high-level Chinese government employee has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing's spy agency said Wednesday.

The individual surnamed Zhang "provided a large number of top secret and classified state secrets to foreign intelligence agencies," the Ministry of State Security said in a post to its official WeChat account.

In his job, Zhang had access to "a large number of state secrets", the ministry said.

He was recruited and became a "puppet" after leaving that job and began handing foreign spy agencies state secrets in exchange for cash, the ministry said.

"Zhang... was weak in character and unable to resist the temptation of money," it added.

The ministry did not specify which state organization employed Zhang, nor did it give his full name.

It accused a foreign spy surnamed Li of luring Zhang to an unnamed country with the promise of "experiencing exotic customs", where they pressured him into becoming a double agent.

Zhang was sentenced to death following an investigation, it added.

A colleague who assisted him, surnamed Zhu, was given six years in jail, it said.

No details were given about when he would be executed.

China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, though rights groups including Amnesty believe thousands of people are executed in the country every year.

Under Xi Jinping, China's most powerful and authoritarian leader in decades, Beijing has stepped up dark warnings that foreign powers are seeking to clip the country's rise.

Beijing has warned that spies are working to lure loyal Chinese to betray their country, often in lurid and unusual ways.

Its highly-secretive Ministry of State Security has also taken to sharing news of its findings on social media.

In September, it warned students with access to sensitive information against falling for "handsome men" or "beautiful women" that might entice them to spy

And in June, it accused Britain's MI6 intelligence agency of recruiting a couple who worked for the central government to spy for the UK.

China and Western powers have long traded accusations of spying but only recently started to disclose details of alleged individual cases.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency last month posted instructions in Chinese on social media on how to securely contact the agency.