The suspect, identified only by the surname Zhang, was discovered after another Chinese resident reported that “classified publications” had been leaked, according to the post.
The ministry’s investigation found that Zhang, who it said had been recruited by foreign spies, had taken advantage of his position, allowing him to access and subscribe to China’s classified publications and send that information to foreign spies through courier services.
The post did not specify which country recruited Zhang, what classified publications it referred to, what harm it had caused, or when and where these events took place.
In another example, it said “a foreign organisation, under the guise of a research collaboration” has sent an unspecified chemical powder to a Chinese research institution, which turned out to be a catalyst for harmful chemical experiments.
It would “pose significant risks to the key research projects at the institute if it had been successfully delivered,” according to the post. It did not name the country sending the powder nor when and where it occurred.
The ministry said further examples included some “foreign organisations and individuals” sending species such as red-eared slider turtles, snapping turtles and American bullfrogs into China through the mail, posing “serious risks to our country’s biological and ecological safety, and could even endanger people’s lives and property”.
National security has become a top priority in China, with Communist Party leaders highlighting the drive at the twice-a-decade third plenum in July.
The Ministry of State Security’s warning also comes amid intensifying strategic competition between China and the US-led West in all domains, including technology and trade.
Last year, Beijing expanded both the definition of spying and the investigative powers of national security agencies under its counter-espionage law.
And China’s newly amended law on guarding state secrets that came into effect in May – the biggest revision in more than a decade – stipulates that it is illegal to send state secrets out of the country without permission from the relevant authorities. Anyone guilty of a serious breach faces criminal charges.