Latest news with #JohnRatcliffe
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
These Cars Weren't BMWs, But They Still Had BMW's Inline-6
The mighty inline-6 (also known as a straight-six or I6) was once a common sight, powering any number of models from around the world. In the last few decades, however, the V6 has more or less replaced it, since it takes up less space. For that matter, turbocharged engines with fewer cylinders altogether really seem to be the direction the industry is moving in. In the long run, with the electrification of the industry, there may not be that many engines at all soon enough. But BMW never lost faith. A believer in the inline-6 since the 1930s, the Bavarian juggernaut still makes the layout today. The current B58 model, a turbocharged inline-6, is a remarkably versatile piece of machinery, powering everything from the performance-minded M340i hot sedan to the comfort-oriented X7 SUV. BMW inline-6s have a fantastic blend of fuel efficiency, reliability, and good old-fashioned horsepower. They're so good that, over the years, a number of other makes have chosen to use it in their models. From Japanese superstars to small Italian badges you've never heard of, from track hounds to tough off-roaders, here are cars that had a BMW I6 engine without the BMW badge on the hood. Read more: These V6 Engines Put The LS1 V8 To Shame For 20 years, the Toyota Supra was a halo car -- one of those universally beloved sports cars that somehow managed to be both fast and affordable. In particular, its legendary 2JZ engine is often considered one of the best ever made, both stock and, especially, once tuners got their oily hands on it. Then a funny thing happened: Supras ended production in 2002, and Toyota never made a straight-6 again. So when the Japanese manufacturer delighted their fans by announcing the return of the Supra in 2019, they also had a bombshell to drop. This new Supra would not feature a Toyota-made I6, a successor to the 2JZ. In fact, it would not feature a Toyota-made engine at all. Instead, the modern-day Supra rocks a B58, the same 3.0-liter BMW inline-6 that goes in the M340i. Why wouldn't Toyota make a so-called 3JZ? Simply put, it takes a lot of research and development (R&D) money to design an engine. And since Toyota doesn't make straight-6s at all anymore, it just didn't make financial sense to spend the company's budget on one model, particularly a lower-volume enthusiast model like the Supra. So Toyota had to look outside, and these days, if you're looking for a performance-focused I6, there's really only one game in town. Therefore, the Supra has a Toyota body filled with BMW muscle, making 382 horsepower. When a specific model you love goes out of production, there's nothing to do but remember the good old days -- unless you've got some serious cash flow, obviously. In 2016, Land Rover announced it would discontinue the long-running Defender in its decades-old form. That caused chemicals magnate and Defender die-hard Sir John Ratcliffe to just build it himself, which by now, has already cost him billions of dollars. He spun up a new automotive division of the conglomerate he ran, Ineos, got a Defender look-alike designed, and then named it after his local pub, the Grenadier. And so, the world once again has a new hard-edged tough-guy off-roader, meant to tackle rocky terrain in any weather. As you might expect, a brand-new automotive badge from a company with no history in the industry didn't want to try to design its own engine. So to give the Grenadier the grunt it would need to muscle through the great outdoors, Ineos sought out BMW's B58, which gave the Grenadier 282 horsepower with 331 pound-feet of torque. Boldmen is a relatively new sports car manufacturer, so new that it still only makes a single sports car, the CR4. As a two-door convertible roadster with a rather pronounced hood, you might be forgiven for thinking that it was a BMW Z4. Turns out, you'd basically be right. Boldmen essentially took the Bimmer, built an entirely new body around the chassis, and then tuned up all that Bavarian machinery inside. That includes, naturally, the turbocharged 3-liter inline-6 that goes into the original car, the B58. The bold men of Boldmen have extensively modified that engine, though, so that it develops more horsepower, torque, and smiles while you're driving it. The retuned engine now makes 408 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque in the base trim. At the higher S trim, it makes a whopping 500 hp with 516 lb-ft of torque. It's fair to say that this is a track-focused spec, then. A small manufacturer that still builds all its cars by hand, Morgan produces handsome performance cars that are generally geared more towards being lightweight rather than sporting massive power. The chassis is even made out of ash wood. If there is a brand out there today that still believes in cars as works of art and not of industry, it's Morgan. However, Morgan still needs an engine to power its art, and for its Plus Six model, which only just ceased production in 2025, the company used BMW's turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 engine, the B58. The engine is good for 335 hp, which, combined with the two-door roadster's weight of merely 1.3 tons, gives it a 0-62 miles per hour time of just 4.2 seconds. It's a front-engine layout, giving that car its signature long hood, while also providing it with class and elegance when it's passing Cybertrucks on the highway. A smaller German manufacturer that only produced cars for about 20 years in the '90s and '00s, Wiesmann intended to create roadsters that combined class and elegance with speed and power. Its first car in 1993 was the MF30 Roadster, which was considered lightweight thanks to its fiberglass body. To power it, the company struck a partnership with BMW to use its 3.0-liter inline-6 from its M performance division, the M54. That was good for 228 hp, not a beast but not bad for the early '90s. The MF30 was later updated into the MF3, which instead sported a 3.2-liter S54 engine with a beefier 343 hp. Both models were good-looking cars that could, as their lizard logo suggested, stick to the road like a gecko to a wall. Sadly, the brand as a whole never did quite catch on, and the company folded in 2013. Though it has been resurrected by a new owner with plans for a revival, the new cars aren't planned to carry straight-6s. For a short while in the 1990s, the venerable British stalwart Land Rover was owned by BMW. So while the classic Defender model continued to be a diesel-powered off-roader with an in-house engine, the door was open to start using BMW engines instead if the company wanted to. Land Rover South Africa decided to give it a go with the 2.8-liter inline-6 from BMW's performance shop M, the M52, available in the region from 1997-2002. The engine made 190 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque. Critically, it was a gas-powered engine, which was not otherwise available in a Defender at the time. Even with the SUV available in Africa, this engine never made its way to other Land Rovers around the world, making it something of a rarity. After 2000, BMW washed its hands of the whole brand anyway, marking an end to its engines inside the boxy Brits. As a small Italian make that made a valiant, if ultimately unsuccessful, effort to challenge the SUV market, Rayton-Fissore is more or less known (if you know them at all) for the Magnum -- rebranded as the Laforza in the United States. In typical Italian fashion, the manufacturer decided that luxury SUVs weren't luxurious enough, and so produced a model with gorgeous, leather-clad interior that was meant more for the parking lots of five-star hotels than muddy off-roading. Over the years and trims, the Magnum was offered with a wide range of different engine sizes and layouts from a number of different manufacturers. However, in 1988 and 1989, the Magnum received the M30, a 3.4-liter inline-6 from BMW. This version of the engine, the M30B35, produced 208 hp and 225 lb-ft of torque. The M30 is a venerable piece of machinery, and the single longest-produced engine that BMW ever made, running from 1968-1995. Unfortunately, it was unable to power the Magnum to huge sales, and Rayton-Fissore essentially remains a footnote in automotive history. Japanese carmaker Daihatsu never did leave a big footprint in the West, but as one of the nation's oldest manufacturers, it's been quietly pumping out trucks, off-roaders, and smaller cars for decades. In the 1980s, they took a shot squarely at Land Rover with their boxy Rugger SUV, meant to be a tough but affordable four-wheel drive that could get you out of the city and into the wilderness. However, an Italian coachbuilder, Bertone, being Italian, decided it wasn't fashionable enough. So in 1989, the company built a variant of the Rugger by giving it a makeover, with plusher seats, more leather, and a new grill and roof. It also decided to give it a little more oomph, and to do that, it pulled in a BMW straight-6. Actually, it pulled in two: the turbodiesel 2.4-liter M21 and the 2.0-liter M20. Bertone tried to sell the off-roader, which they'd renamed the Freeclimber, around Europe. However, it never quite caught on and not many were ever made. Production ceased in 1992 after only a few years. While Alpina has long been its own manufacturer selling its own models, all its vehicles are based on BMWs. It does so in close connection with the bigger company, making Alpina something of BMW's little cousin; in fact, BMW acquired Alpina outright in 2022. Current models on sale include the diesel-powered D3 and D4 as well as 98-octane gas options, which include the B3 (based on the BMW 335i) and the B4 (based on the 435i). Even though these are Alpina cars, it's always retained the BMW badge, even before its acquisition, showcasing the tight relationship between the two companies. These models also all retain BMW's twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 engine, the performance-spec S58. Alpina has modded that powerhouse a lot, though, including adding in smaller turbochargers and redesigned intakes and exhausts. That nets out to 495 hp and 538 lb-ft for both the 2023 B3 and B4 models. That makes them more powerful than their newest M cousins who are at 437 hp and 406 lb-ft. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
CBC
18-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
The CIA is openly calling on Chinese officials to spy for the U.S. Will they listen?
American spies are saying the quiet part out loud to Chinese officials: Their knowledge of Beijing's secrets would be welcome in Washington. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has taken to social media to publish slickly produced videos in Mandarin with Chinese subtitles. One features a senior Chinese official making the dramatic decision to contact the U.S. spy agency, seemingly after watching two colleagues be disappeared by the communist government. It's all part of a bold public pitch by the CIA to lure disaffected bureaucrats to spy for the U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has confirmed the videos are "aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets." Links are provided with instructions on how to contact the spy agency in a secure manner. China's foreign ministry has labelled the initiative"a naked political provocation," and the country has warned it will take steps to confront "infiltration and sabotage activities" accordingly. WATCH | CIA shares video titled 'The reason to choose cooperation: control your own destiny': James Olson, a former chief of counterintelligence for the CIA, nonetheless expects the approach of "hanging out the shingle" will bear fruit. "I am very optimistic that we will get contacts," said Olson, who concedes the U.S. has often struggled to recruit sources from China. Yet questions remain about how effective the U.S. can be in enticing Chinese sources to turn against their government, given the risks of doing so include long prison terms or even death sentences. Juan Wang, an expert in Chinese politics at McGill University, says the highly overt manner in which the CIA has made its pitch may not rattle Beijing the way the U.S. hopes. "This was not the first time that the American government actually tried to recruit Chinese government officials," said Wang, noting that Beijing's standard approach has included public statements condemning U.S. actions and publicizing the punishments for those caught spying. Weeding through the walk-ins The CIA has done this before, releasing similar videos in Russian, Farsi and Korean. (And Russia has since made its own appeal to "true American patriots" to get in touch with Moscow's foreign spy service.) Last October, Bloomberg reported that the CIA was trying to boost its recruitment of sources within China, publishing information on social media detailing how Chinese citizens could contact the spy agency. Olson says it's a strategy he's long advocated using against "adversarial countries," and one that can pay major dividends if the right source if found. The retired spy says the CIA's China-focused callout may be more about reaching sources working for the state who aren't necessarily inside the country itself — such as people working at embassies, or in other arrangements outside China. Olson says serious walk-ins will need to prove their bona fides, and will bring information with them to do so. The rest, he said, will be weeded out. "If they don't give up the goods very quickly, we won't do business with them," he said. Getting connected with people inside China, however, is much more difficult. "China is a particularly hard target," Emily Harding, a former CIA leadership analyst, told ABC News. "They have a robust surveillance state that makes it very, very hard to maintain contact with an asset," said Harding, the director of the intelligence, national security and technology program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think-tank. The U.S. has had past failures spying in China. Starting in around 2010, Beijing reportedly"systematically dismantled" the CIA's spy operations in the country over a period of several years. According to the New York Times, at least a dozen people were killed and others were arrested. The paper said this rivalled the fallout from infamous Moscow-linked spy scandals involving Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen decades ago. There may also be challenges with the way the CIA's current China messaging was put together, as Wang says some of the language used was awkward, pointing to particular phrasing in one of the videos. "Many of the sentences in the video sound like literal translation of English, and not natural Chinese," she said. Indeed, some have mocked the videos online, noting that if the spy agency isn't able to get its message across smoothly, then it's unlikely those being targeted would reach out. Wang says that these kinds of pressures from the U.S. are unlikely to pierce the strong nationalist sentiment China has long nurtured. But Olson says it was imperative for the CIA messaging to help drive home the point that for those with valuable information to share, "America is open for business" and has deep pockets. 'Chaos' of U.S. intel causes concerns But the current U.S. political context could hamper that effort, given pending cuts to the CIA itself and poor handling of sensitive information by senior members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. "Given the chaos of the U.S. now, especially in the intel services … I can't imagine recruiting anyone, much less a Chinese asset, is any easier," former CIA covert agent Valerie Plame said via email. Plame had her own experience with U.S. officials acting recklessly with secret information when an official in former U.S. president George W. Bush's administration leaked her identity to the media more than two decades ago. The leak came days after Plame's then-husband ambassador Joseph Wilson publicly criticized the U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Plame's book about the affair, Fair Game, was made into a 2010 film of the same name starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. Following an investigation into the leak, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a vice-presidential aide, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice. In 2007, Bush commuted Libby's sentence and in 2018, he was pardoned by Trump. Cases in the public eye China also works its own sources to steal secrets from U.S., and the stories behind those efforts come to light when those individuals get caught. Olson, the former counterintelligence chief, suggests the cases of Chinese spying against U.S. interests that are made public are just "the tip of the iceberg." Some recent China-linked national security cases in the U.S. have involved Americans working in the military or for intelligence services. In April, former U.S. army intelligence officer Korbein Schultz was handed a seven-year prison sentence for selling sensitive defence information — allegedly including lessons the army had learned from the Ukraine conflict — to a source he believed was based in China. A similar story emerged last year, when Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a retired CIA employee, admitted to passing defence information to China, resulting in a 10-year sentence for the septuagenarian spy. Another case that made headlines was that of Yanjun Xu, a Chinese intelligence officer, who U.S. prosecutors said spent years working to pass Western aviation secrets to Beijing. Xu was arrested in Belgium in 2018 and returned to the U.S. for trial. In 2021, he was convicted on charges relating to economic espionage and trade theft, resulting in a 20-year sentence. However, Xu is no longer behind bars in the U.S. after his sentence was commuted by former U.S. president Joe Biden in November 2024, as part of what media reports revealed was a prisoner swap between China and the U.S. "I'm furious about that," said Olson, who testified as an expert for the prosecution at Xu's trial. Olson says that when spies are caught, a source has typically been involved in that process — suggesting that America has some reach into China, even if it's not as far as it would like. Despite the CIA's recent efforts to recruit Chinese sources to spy for the U.S., McGill University's Wang says there hasn't been much concern from Beijing, and it appears that the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. is a bigger source of tension.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
New date for Higham Ferrers election after candidate's death
A new date has been set for an election which had to be postponed following the death of a death of John Ratcliffe, who was standing for the Liberal Democrats in the Higham Ferrers ward of North Northamptonshire Council, was announced on the eve of last Thursday's local elections in ward election will now be held on Thursday 12 June with new poll cards to be issued to all affected council said any postal votes that had already been submitted for the ward would not be counted and new voting forms would be sent to those who had registered to vote by post. Mr Ratcliffe was one of 11 candidates fighting for two Higham Ferrers seats on the unitary three Higham Ferrers ward seats will remain vacant until the election takes place and any residents with queries or complaints regarding services in the town is asked the contact the council's customer feedback team "in the short term".Last week's elections saw Reform UK take control of both West and North Northamptonshire Council. The Tories had headed the former county council since 2005 and led both unitaries since their formation in 2021. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
CNN
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Upcoming changes at CIA shine a spotlight on the spy agency's director John Ratcliffe
As one of the last federal agencies to face major changes in President Donald Trump's norm-bending second term, the CIA is bracing for significant cuts and a reorganization that seeks to elevate covert operations by hiring more officers to go in the field and fewer analysts to sit behind computer screens. The coming changes have sharpened the focus on CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who so far has walked a fine line between maintaining favor with the White House and building trust with career rank-and-file officers at the storied spy agency that Trump views as a key part of the so-called 'Deep State.' Up to now, Ratcliffe appears to have insulated the CIA from the kind of political meddling by the White House that many career officials have feared would come with a second Trump administration. Ratcliffe and his deputy Michael Ellis 'may have come to the conclusion that these people are professionals, there really is no deep state out here,' said one former senior intelligence official. 'But now you are pushing against the White House that believes there is.' Several intelligence officials said Ratcliffe seems to spend most of his time across the river at the White House – leaving some in the workforce with the impression he is very 'hands-off,' one US official said. Others said it's not clear to the rank-and-file who is really running the agency, with another former official describing the CIA as 'rudderless' – deepening concerns among some career professionals that the uncertainty will lead to a brain drain as talented officers retire or take Trump's buyout offer. Overall, the sentiment toward Ratcliffe among career officials within CIA headquarters at Langley is lukewarm, multiple current and former US officials told CNN, with one official describing him as 'the least bad option' to serve as Trump's CIA director. 'Being at the White House all the time is a good thing,' a person close to Trump told CNN. 'It would be far more concerning if Ratcliffe was never meeting with the president. It shows he still values him.' So far, Ratcliffe has not made the kind of broad cuts that the administration has demanded of other agencies, despite a clear desire by Trump and his allies to reshape the spy agency. Ratcliffe's relationship with the White House has allowed him the latitude to manage the agency on his own timeline, sources close to the president say. Some career officials see Ratcliffe as quietly acting as a kind of buffer between the White House and the agency. 'As he has learned more about our people and capabilities I think he is wanting to support us, but most of his time is spent downtown and Cabinet focused,' said another US official, adding that 'running the organization is really falling more on' Ratcliffe's deputy, Ellis. 'Director Ratcliffe has made it clear that CIA will pursue President Trump's national security priorities with laser-like focus,' CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said in a statement to CNN. 'The Agency is determined to provide the President with an unparalleled advantage and, under Director Ratcliffe, it is aggressively doing just that. Any insinuation to the contrary is false and completely baseless.' Ratcliffe, a former Republican Texas congressman, has taken a deliberately under-the-radar approach during his first few months on the job, meeting with Trump behind closed doors at the White House and making selective media appearances. He has also played a key role in helping the administration navigate some of its most pressing foreign policy challenges. In April, Trump sent Ratcliffe to Israel for high-level discussions about the administration's ongoing pursuit of a deal with Iran to surrender its entire nuclear program, according to two sources familiar with the trip. Earlier in Trump's second term, Ratcliffe also quietly helped to secure the release of multiple Americans held in Russia. But, unlike special envoy Steve Witkoff who was credited for the release, Ratcliffe's involvement in those talks was not widely publicized. Ratcliffe's approach to his job stands in stark contrast to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has issued agency-wide directives via social media posts on X and in public pronouncements on Fox News – a difference in style that has not gone unnoticed by career intelligence officials. Ratcliffe has also not made the kind of high-profile blunders that led to the dismissal of former national security advisor Mike Waltz, who added a journalist to a sensitive Signal chat about war planning, and additional scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose classified texts to the chat churned headlines for days. However, Ratcliffe's presence and contribution to the now-infamous unsecure chat did raise eyebrows inside the CIA for its sensitive nature. Intelligence sources said there was anger and disbelief that there had been such carelessness using Signal instead of secure communications. Officials were also concerned that sources and methods were revealed. 'It was obvious it was either a human source or drones. Either way, not OK,' said a former high-ranking intelligence official. There are signs that Ratcliffe is walking a fine line: Trump has on at least one occasion expressed frustration that Ratcliffe is not moving faster to fire workers, reorganize the agency, and undo changes made under President Barack Obama, according to a source familiar with the matter. Trump did have some initial skepticism about Ratcliffe before his inauguration, another source familiar with the dynamic acknowledged. However, this person said that, as far as they know, the president has not said anything negative about his CIA director since entering the White House for his second term. Ratcliffe has taken some visible steps toward implementing Trump's vision. He has fired some probationary employees and other officers involved in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; he has also dismissed a senior official who had been targeted by a far-right activist. Many of those officials have challenged their firings in court and legal proceedings are ongoing. In March, Ratcliffe also welcomed Elon Musk to the agency's headquarters for a briefing and publicly commemorated the visit with a photo of the two men standing next to the famous CIA seal. 'He fired all the DEI employees even though they sued. He offered the 'fork in the road' DOGE email, even though CIA had been exempt, then went over and above and offered early retirement. Then he proactively invited Elon out to the agency and talked to him about DOGE ideas he had,' a person who works closely with Ratcliffe said, emphasizing Ratcliffe's attempts to please Trump. And Ratcliffe has allies in the White House: Two sources familiar with the dynamic said Ratcliffe has become 'tight' with Vice President JD Vance. Ratcliffe's relationship with Vance dates back to before Trump's inauguration in January, one of the sources said, noting the two men had several conversations about reforming the CIA prior to assuming their current roles in the president's second administration. That balancing act has made it hard for rank-and-file CIA officers – many of whom are anxious about their careers – to judge how much to trust the new director, who multiple sources said has kept the flow of information inside the agency restricted to an extremely tight inner circle. In one instance, career officials were pleased to hear that a 35-year veteran of the agency was a top candidate to head the CIA's operational wing – only to be disappointed when he was not given the role. Within the building, the episode left the impression that the candidate, Ralph Goff, who has been outspoken in support of Ukraine, was insufficiently supportive of the president and his views on the conflict there. The episode is an example that 'the whole building is on tenterhooks because they don't have any idea what is going to happen next,' said the former high-ranking intelligence official. Ratcliffe is still expected to make widespread cuts at the CIA that officials said appear tailored to elevate the role of covert operations and human intelligence gathering. Ratcliffe, Ellis and other top officials are also holding meetings on a proposed reorganization of the agency that would combine existing offices under a new 'Americas' Mission Center to prioritize counternarcotics and counter-cartel work – previously a relatively small part of the agency's mission but a top priority under Trump. The CIA under Trump has been flying unarmed surveillance drone missions over Mexican airspace and reviewing its legal authorities to conduct lethal action against cartels – a frequent topic of conversation at the White House, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ratcliffe has made clear that one of his top priorities as CIA director is refocusing the agency on covert action and collecting human intelligence. 'We will collect intelligence – especially human intelligence – in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult. We will produce insightful, objective, all-source analysis, never allowing political or personal biases to cloud our judgement or infect our products,' Ratcliffe told Senate lawmakers during his confirmation hearing earlier this year. 'We will conduct covert action at the direction of the president, going places no one else can go and doing things no one else can do,' he said. Ratcliffe's plans also include shrinking the agency's workforce by about 1,200 personnel over the next several years through a combination of early retirement, deferred resignations, and reduced hiring, according to a source familiar with the matter. In total, the planned cuts will affect between 5-6% of the CIA's total workforce, the source added. But the changes are unlikely to impact hiring at CIA's Directorate of Operations, according to the source familiar with the matter. Instead, the effort appears likely to include cutting some positions currently held by analysts at the agency, suggesting a clear prioritization of officials who operate in the field over those who work to make sense of multiple streams of intelligence, according to current and former US officials. That goal aligns with the vision outlined for the CIA in a Trump transition planning document obtained by CNN, which details how the new administration should limit analysts' ability to influence decisions related to covert operations and reassert control over those programs to ensure they are aligned with the president's policy goals. The agency is reevaluating what were known as the 'Brennan reforms' – named for former CIA Director John Brennan – which integrated analysts with the agency's operations officers. Critics of the move have long argued that having the two roles work together compromised hard-nosed analysis. Some covert officers have also long contended that the move weakened the agency's elite spies, elevating analysts at their expense. Under Trump, those voices appear to have gained an audience. CNN's Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
News.com.au
06-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
China slams CIA recruitment ads as ‘naked political provocation'
China on Tuesday condemned recruitment adverts by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asking disillusioned Chinese officials to share state secrets as a 'naked political provocation'. 'The United States not only maliciously smears and attacks China, but also openly deceives and lures Chinese personnel to surrender, even directly targeting Chinese government officials,' foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. The US intelligence agency last week released a number of videos it said were aimed at 'recruiting Chinese officials to help the US'. CIA director John Ratcliffe said the cinematic videos were 'just one of many ways that we're adjusting our tradecraft at the CIA'. Beijing on Tuesday said the United States used 'various despicable methods to steal secrets of other countries, interfere in other countries' internal affairs and undermine other countries' political power'. Retaliatory videos aimed at the US political system have also popped up online in response. 'The videos released by the US Central Intelligence Agency on social media are another self-confession with solid evidence of this,' Lin said. 'China strongly condemns this,' he added. The United States and China have long traded accusations of espionage. Last month, security officials said they had implicated three US 'secret agents' in cyberattacks during February's Asian Winter Games in the northeastern city of Harbin. And in March, China's ministry of state security said it had sentenced to death a former engineer for leaking state secrets to an unnamed foreign power. Beijing on Tuesday vowed to take 'necessary measures to resolutely crack down on the infiltration and sabotage activities of foreign anti-China forces'. China will 'firmly safeguard national sovereignty, development and security interests', Lin said.
