[International] Chinese beauty plan? The French espionage case opens today in secret

A special tribunal in Paris will open (6th) a case today accused of providing secret intelligence to China.

French broadcasting cited the Parisian newspaper reporting that the two accused suspects were former employees of the French foreign security agency and wife of one of them. If convicted, they can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison and a verdict will be issued on the 10th of this month. One of the defendants, Henri M, fell in love with a Chinese translator who notified the Chinese Ministry of National Security of what he had done.

“The Parisian” published an article the day before the hearing that earlier this week, the first two spies accused of playing for China will appear in court. “The Parisian” said that it is very, very rare to bring unfair spies to court: under normal circumstances, they will be recalled to the country through diplomatic channels and will no longer be advertised. The newspaper reporter said the spy case and a spy war movie infused with love and money were shocking. Unfortunately, the defense secrets case will be tried behind closed doors. “The Parisian” said the French people may have ignored the threat from the outside. Indeed, the penetration of French intelligence services will have serious consequences for national sovereignty, the economy and other sectors.

An investigator close to the case told the Parisian that the reasons for replacing the employees of the external security department were tempted to “break through”: they were unwilling to work in the unit, economic basis and Sino-American human factors.

The Parisian also stated that the two charged were Henri M (73) and Pierre-Marie H (68). The charges are that the French Ministry of Defense once said that the case is extremely serious. Bernard Bajolet, the former head of the French General Directorate of Foreign Security (DGSA), found the seriousness of the matter and submitted the case to the procuratorate for investigation.

The third defendant who will sit on the dock is Pierre-Marie-H’s wife, Laurence H. She was accused of “hiding assets acquired by providing foreign forces with information that might reach the basic interests of the country”.

Still according to the Parisian newspaper, the retired Henry M started playing for China in the 1990s. The newspaper also stated that Henry M is a sinologist and graduated from the Oriental Language Institute. In 1997, he was assigned to Beijing by the French General Administration of Foreign Security. His public identity was the second secretary of the French Embassy in Beijing.

The Parisian reported that when Henry M was stationed in Beijing, his wife did not travel with him, and his wife stayed in Paris. He soon fell in love with a Chinese female interpreter at the French embassy. “The Parisian” said that the Chinese female translator notified Henry M of every move to the Ministry of National Security of China. The French General Directorate of Foreign Security found that Henry M had a close relationship with a Chinese female translator and recalled him to France in 1998. After retiring, he returned to China in 2003. Henry M married a Chinese translator who loved him and settled in Hainan Island.

According to the Parisian newspaper, it was Henry M who took the line to let Pierre-Marie-H get to know the Chinese Ministry of National Security. Pierre-Marie-H has never been sent abroad or traveled to other countries. However, he often traveled to and from Mauritius, and traveled frequently to Asia, causing the alert of the intelligence department. In the spring of 2017, the counter-espionage department tracked and monitored Pierre-Marie-H, only to discover that he had close contacts with the retired Henry M.

In December 2017, the two of them were detained.

French journalist Franck Renaud described the love “story” of Henry M and a Chinese female translator in a book called “Les Diplomates”. Henry M himself strictly denied the content described in the book on the website of the Foreign Security Bureau. In order to return home smoothly, Henry M lied that he was a retired administrative worker.

The Parisian also stated that Henry M was accused of providing China with the identity of a French undercover agent in the Asian intelligence network. The two of them provided a lot of information about French defense secrets. Prior to his arrest, Henry M had registered an import and export company that specifically assisted French companies wishing to invest in China to provide advice; while Pierre-Marie-H was preparing to participate in the local elections in Bourgogne, The political colors for the election are far-right.

CURRENT SITUATION
The French special court will try a spying case linked to China
According to Agence France-Presse, a case of espionage comparable to a suspense film will be heard in Paris. Two former French intelligence agency employees accused of providing secret information to China will appear in court on Monday. One of the suspects was the second secretary of the French ambassador to China.

After the spy case emerged in May 2018, French officials described it as an “extremely serious” case. The then Minister of Defense Parry (Florence Parly) said that the two people involved were suspected of having committed “treason” that could have endangered the secrets of national defense.