At the height of the Cold War, a top official in China’s intelligence agency said that his country would never use seduction to entrap a person. Such tactics might be for the C.I.A. or the K.G.B., the official named Kong Yuan, of the Central Investigation Department, told a group of agents in training in April 1960, but China was guided by principles. He looked at the few female comrades in the audience. “Rest assured, we will not be asking you to go run beauty traps.” Despite that pledge, captured in…
In China’s Spy Operations, Romance Can Be a Long Game
