China Threatens Retaliation Over Taiwan's Intelligence Recruitment Website
Chinese authorities have pledged to take ‘resolute countermeasures’ in response to Taiwan’s launch of an intelligence recruitment website, a new tactic by Taipei to persuade Chinese citizens to leak state secrets.
Beijing officials, as reported by AFP on Wednesday (17/6/2026), strongly criticised the website’s launch, which was announced by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) earlier this week.
Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told state broadcaster CCTV that such a website ‘undermines cross-strait relations’ and reflects the ‘persistent confrontational mindset’ of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
‘We strongly condemn this action and will take resolute countermeasures,’ Chen said in a statement. He also warned that Chinese nationals who provide intelligence to Taiwanese institutions will be held legally accountable.
‘Chinese citizens, political parties, social organisations, enterprises, public institutions, and other social organisations all bear the responsibility and obligation to safeguard national security,’ Chen stressed.
China consistently claims Taiwan, which has a democratic government, as part of its sovereign territory. Beijing has threatened to use force to take the island, while Taipei accuses Beijing of employing espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.
The new platform created by Taiwanese authorities invites Chinese citizens who ‘share democratic values’ to collaborate in reporting on Beijing. Taipei introduced the platform on Sunday (14/6) with a one-minute AI-generated video depicting a Chinese civil servant watching his colleagues being dismissed and investigated.
‘Reflecting the pervasive atmosphere of tension under China’s totalitarian regime,’ read an excerpt from the promotional video for the NSB-launched website.
In its statement, the NSB also claimed that ‘an increasing number of people’ are contacting Taiwanese institutions ‘with a desire to provide various types of information’. The NSB added that the reporting channel is based on ‘practices adopted by intelligence agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel’.