CHINA’S ‘DANGEROUS LOVE’ CAMPAIGN, WARNING OF SPIES, IS MET WITH SHRUGS

[The Chinese state news media reported on Tuesday that a former computer technician, Huang Yu, 41, who worked at a cryptographic institute in Chengdu, had been sentenced to death for selling 150,000 classified documents to foreign spies from 2002 to 2011. His Chinese wife and brother-in-law were imprisoned for negligent disclosure of state secrets, the reports said.]

By Didi Kirsten Tatlow 

On a platform in the Dongdan subway station in Beijing, commuters

ignore a poster for China’s first National Security Education Day,

warning Chinese to beware of foreign spies.Credit 

Didi Kirsten Tatlow/The New York Times

BEIJING — Clutching a bouquet of red roses from the auburn-haired foreigner who has also showered her with wine and compliments, Ms. Li thinks to herself, “Having a handsome, romantic, talented foreign boyfriend is pretty nice!”

What Ms. Li, a state employee, does not know is that her foreign Romeo has an ulterior motive: espionage. But the devastating truth is revealed toward the end of a 16-panel cartoon that the Beijing authorities posted in subway stations, streets and residential compounds for China’s first National Security Education Day last Friday. Caught by security officers after handing her boyfriend a disc of work secrets at his request, Ms. Li sits before two stern officers, handcuffed and sobbing: “I didn’t know he was a spy. I was used by him!”

It was unclear why the authorities chose to cast foreign men as possible spies and young Chinese women as their targets in this first public education drive.

A person answering the telephone at the propaganda office of the Beijing municipal party committee requested questions by fax. A fax including a question about the poster went unanswered.

Despite the emphatic warnings of the tale, titled “Dangerous Love,” a morning on the streets of Beijing suggests it may not be having quite the impact the government hopes.

“How could ordinary people know anything about state secrets?” asked Mr. Liu, a resident of Wudaoying Lane in central Beijing, where one of the posters hangs on the wall of a construction site.

If even young girls know secrets, what kind of secrets are they?” asked Mr. Liu, who gave only his surname and put his age at “about 50,” after answering a knock at his door late on a warm morning.

“What?!” asked a woman strolling along the lane who identified herself only as Ms. Yang. (No one who was asked about the potentially delicate topic of national security would disclose a full name.) She looked unfazed when questioned about National Security Education Day.

“I run a restaurant called Chi Mian,” Mandarin for “eat noodles,” “just down the lane, and we get lots of foreigners,” she said. “English, French, Japanese. They’re very nice and never cause trouble, even after they’ve been drinking.”

Teriza, 25, a Czech tourist who was with her parents, said the idea of a public campaign warning against foreign spies in peacetime was not a big deal to her family, since their own country had a Communist past.

“We had this 20 years ago, so it’s very normal,” she said. “But I don’t think my brother,” who is studying in Beijing, “is at all aware of this, and he is in those student circles.”

A young couple who gave their names as Ms. Cheng and Mr. Zhang had not noticed the poster until reporters pointed it out.

After glancing it over, Mr. Zhang said, “The cartoon is quite realistic, because you do see foreign men hitting on Chinese women, more often than foreign women hitting on Chinese men.”

“And actually,” he said, “I think a lot of young women are pretty stupid.”

His girlfriend, who did not appear offended by that comment, said: “I studied in Sydney. I never dated a foreigner in Australia because I’m pretty conventional.”

“I never saw a poster like that in Australia,” she added.

In the Dongdan subway station, the poster adorns two orange pillars on the busy platform for the No. 5 line. Over 15 minutes, none of the people rushing by or waiting for a train read the sign, except for a woman who identified herself as Ms. Chen. She said she had stopped in front of one because reporters were photographing it.

Ms. Chen, 26, a saleswoman, said she thought the warning was a good idea.

“It’s necessary for the government to have these kinds of warnings, because some Chinese women are naïve,” she said. “I don’t come into contact with foreigners at work, but if there was a foreigner making advances I would definitely ask what kind of job he did before dating him. I’d be alert.”

One possible explanation for the low-key public reaction could be the profusion of such morally themed messages on billboards and walls across Beijing, above and below ground.

Three in or near the Dongdan station read: “Harmony in 10,000 Families.” “You, Me and Them, Be Civilized.” “Enhance the Spirit of Lei Feng,” a reference to the Communist hero of selflessness. Elsewhere, “Rejuvenate the Nation,” “Be a Volunteer” and “Serve the People” are common.

Riding the subway is itself an exercise in security, requiring airport-style checks of bags and bodies of passengers, even drinking from water bottles to prove the contents are potable.

National Security Education Day, on April 15, was established after China passed a National Security Law in July outlining greater security efforts in 11 areas, including political, territorial, military, cultural and technological.

The Chinese state news media reported on Tuesday that a former computer technician, Huang Yu, 41, who worked at a cryptographic institute in Chengdu, had been sentenced to death for selling 150,000 classified documents to foreign spies from 2002 to 2011. His Chinese wife and brother-in-law were imprisoned for negligent disclosure of state secrets, the reports said.

Follow Didi Kirsten Tatlow on Twitter @dktatlow.

Vanessa Piao contributed research. 

@ The New York Times