‘Steal Secrets’: CIA Releases Videos In Mandarin To Recruit Chinese Officials

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) posted videos in Mandarin in an effort to recruit Chinese officials Thursday.

The CIA released two videos on X and YouTube. The posts are captioned in Mandarin, and they were posted in an attempt to recruit Chinese officials, the Daily Caller has learned.

“Today, the CIA released Mandarin-language videos aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets,” Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement Thursday obtained by the Caller.

“No adversary in the history of our Nation has presented a more formidable challenge or capable strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party.  It is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically. Our Agency must continue responding to this threat with urgency, creativity, and grit, and these videos are just one of the ways we are doing this,” he continued. (RELATED: It’s A Big Deal’ — John Ratcliffe For CIA Director Could Be One Of Trump’s Most Important Picks)

The videos conclude with links, including to the Tor Project, an internet privacy nonprofit supported by the U.S. State Department.

选择合作的原因：成为命运的主宰者https://t.co/4BsFttl79P pic.twitter.com/mjA3wPJdzT

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2025

选择合作的原因：创造美好远景https://t.co/4BsFttl79P pic.twitter.com/nNrrf2SNus

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2025

The captions on the posts read “Reasons for choosing cooperation: Become the master of your own destiny” and “Reasons for cooperation: creating a better future,” according to Google translations provided by X.

The videos are narrated in a hushed tone, and they depict two different Chinese men traveling. The first video ends with a man looking at the CIA’s website and reading its contact info.

In the second video, it ends with a man standing in a dark room overlooking a city. He views the CIA’s contact page from his phone. (RELATED: Intel Agencies Begin Dismantling DEI In Response To Trump’s Order)

Ratcliffe has long viewed China as a top threat to the United States, and it was reported in January that the CIA determined with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Ratcliffe focused on tackling threats from China when he was Director of National Intelligence (DNI) during Trump’s first term, and he penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal entitled “China Is National Security Threat No.1.”

This is not the first time the CIA has released videos in Mandarin. In 2024, the agency released a video with instructions in Mandarin on a YouTube playlist titled “Securely Contacting CIA.”