Tim Cheung (@TimCheung)

"The #US. government has banned #American #government #personnel in #China, as well as #family members and #contractors with #security #clearances, from any #romantic or #sexual relationships with #Chinese #citizens, The Associated Press has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the #AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing U.S. #Ambassador #NicholasBurns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a #confidential new #directive. Though some U.S. agencies already had strict rules on such #relationships, a blanket 'non-#fraternization' policy, as it is known, has been unheard of publicly since the #ColdWar...A more limited version of the policy was enacted last summer prohibiting U.S. personnel from 'romantic and sexual relations' with Chinese citizens working as #guards and other support #staff at the U.S. #Embassy and five #consulates in China. But #Burns, the departing ambassador, broadened it to a blanket #ban on such relations with any Chinese citizen in China in January, days before President Donald #Trump took office...The new policy covers U.S. missions in #mainland China, including the embassy in #Beijing and consulates in #Guangzhou, #Shanghai, #Shenyang and #Wuhan, as well as the #American consulate in the semi-autonomous territory of #HongKong. It does not apply to U.S. personnel stationed outside China. The only exception to the policy is U.S. personnel with pre-existing relations with Chinese citizens; they can apply for exemptions. If the #exemption is denied, they must end the relationship or leave their position, the people said. Anyone who violates the policy will be ordered to leave China immediately. The policy was communicated verbally and electronically to American personnel in China in #January, but has not been publicly announced...#Intelligence services across the #world have long used attractive #men and #women to obtain #sensitive information, famously during the #ColdWar. The #StateDepartment and other agencies with offices in China have long had stringent reporting requirements on personal relationships for American personnel stationed there, as well as rivals considered high intelligence threats such as #Russia or #Cuba. Declassified State Department documents show that in 1987, the U.S. government barred personnel stationed in the #Soviet bloc and China from #befriending, #dating or having #sex with #locals after a U.S. Marine in #Moscow was seduced by a Soviet #spy. Such restrictions were relaxed after the collapse of the #SovietUnion in 1991...U.S. diplomats and intelligence experts say that Beijing continues to aggressively use so-called #honeypots to access American #secrets. In presentations before being stationed in China, U.S. personnel are briefed on case studies where Chinese intelligence services sent attractive women to seduce American #diplomats, and warned that dozens of Chinese state security agents can be assigned to monitor any individual diplomat of interest...(Peter Mattis, a former #CIA analyst and president of The Jamestown Foundation, a #Washington-based #thinktank, said) Chinese state security doesn’t gather intelligence just through spies, but also by pressing #ordinary Chinese people for information, often through #threats or #intimidation. That, Mattis said, means any Chinese citizen who dates an American diplomat could be vulnerable to coercion. 'The #MSS is willing to leverage any human connection that a target has to collect intelligence', Mattis said, using an acronym referring to China’s Ministry of State Security. 'This rule change suggests the MSS has gotten a lot more aggressive at trying to access the embassy and U.S. government'...China also has been tightening already strict controls on its personnel overseas, according to Chinese #regulations, news reports and four people familiar with China’s $bureaucracy who spoke on condition of #anonymity so they could discuss a sensitive topic. In recent years, Beijing began strictly enforcing regulations that bar promotions for Chinese $civilservants with $spouses who acquired foreign #citizenship and restrict diplomats from spending an extended period of time in one country, forcing some to return to China. China’s foreign ministry and many other government bodies bar their officials and staff from sexual or romantic relations with foreign citizens, while members of the Chinese $military or $police are generally barred from leaving China altogether without express approval from their supervisors." https://www.facebook.com/ChinaCreepingAuthoritarianism/posts/pfbid0PzZKB2zx2dhTpLVK6GbHDRrWEoEEyme9qjc4JRR3ntAmaXzhTH2sMhV5wNoFQiEEl