07 September 2025 :

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) on September 4, 2025 revealed that a former official of a state ministry was lured into befriending a spy, then blackmailed using compromising information, ultimately leading to his conviction for espionage and a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
The former employee of a state ministry, surnamed Zhang, met a diplomat from a foreign country during his posting abroad who struck up conversations with him. This diplomat not only helped Zhang improve his foreign language translation skills but also addressed difficulties in Zhang's work and personal life, gradually making Zhang dependent on and grateful to him. 
Their relationship also shifted from official contacts to private interactions, until the diplomat offered to pay a high reward for national secrets.
Despite knowing the diplomat was an intelligence agent, Zhang continued to maintain contact with him. Over the following years, Zhang acted as a spy for that country's government, even developing a romantic relationship with a female official from that country and fathering two children with her, completely falling under the control of the foreign spy agency. 
Investigations by state security authorities later revealed that Zhang had privately stored 5,200 documents, including 59 classified as top secret, 848 as confidential, and 541 as sensitive. In February 2019, Zhang was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for espionage and illegally obtaining state secrets, the MSS reported.