A retired man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling top-secret and confidential state information to a foreign agency in an attempt to help his child study abroad, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) announced on Sunday.
Cheng, a former employee of a classified unit, voluntarily contacted the foreign agency and repeatedly provided highly sensitive state secrets. He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 15 years in prison, along with a five-year deprivation of political rights.
The MSS warned that some retired personnel from classified units mistakenly believe retaining classified materials is harmless or sentimental, not realizing it violates the law. In one case, a retired employee was found to have kept classified documents privately, which later served as evidence of illegal activity.
Another case involved a retired and rehired employee who took a portable hard drive containing classified files home and connected it to a personal computer. As a result, multiple secret documents were stolen by foreign intelligence agencies. All responsible individuals faced severe legal consequences.
