We are to be Shocked! The Chinese Engage in Espionage and Blackmail

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/how-suspected-chinese-spy-honey-trapped-top-us-politicians/articleshow/79924299.cms

The US has (since the Obama administration) openly declared China to be an enemy, thus it should hardly surprise anyone that Beijing has responded and the MSS (the Chinese intelligence agency) has invested significant intelligence gathering assets within the United States itself.

Blackmail is basic to this, and the CIA and other intelligence agencies are engaged in the same kinds of behaviours. The utilisation of 'honey traps' is denied by the US but such denials are not only laughable, there have been hosts of whistleblowers and others that have come forward and revealed scenarios exactly like what was seen here.

The only thing that stands out is that this Chinese operation seems to have been conducted in a rather amateurish fashion. She caught the attention of the FBI and her rapid disappearance left glaring tracks – as if there wasn't even an attempt at damage control.

If there is a difference when it comes to US operations it's this – US agents are (it would seem) less likely to play this role of honey trap. Now whether male agents engage in such behaviours is probably another matter but Western agents aren't going to be expected or mandated to sleep with targets. That doesn't mean they sometimes don't. But the Western model relies not on agents but assets – people willing to do so for money or because they're being blackmailed.

Are Chinese or Russian agents (as per The Americans television show) expected to do so? It's quite possible and under the Soviet system or present day China – it's likely. Does this grant the US or the West some kind of moral superiority? I don't really see how that's the case. It simply means that while Western agents are more than willing to sanction the behaviour, they themselves are simply unwilling to get that 'dirty' in doing it.

Morality really isn't on the table when it comes to such questions and the larger discussion of intelligence operations. As CIA agents and directors freely admit they lie, cheat, and steal – and the honest ones will also admit to murder. That's what they do. They are by definition immoral. Their morality is nationalist which is therefore rooted in idolatry and an ethic of the end justifies the means. Winning is all that matters. It has nothing to do with Christianity and those professed Christians working for intelligence agencies are only deceiving themselves.

Christianity lives by a very different, even antithetical ethic – and the ends never justify the means. It is better to 'lose' or even die than to compromise. We never commit evil in order to do good.

One would expect US officials to react to this Chinese operation. Of course they will. But the moral outrage is absurd. The attempt to play up the salacious aspects of the story – that's just propaganda, meant to stimulate the public and demonise the other side.