The assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by a joint U.S.-Israeli operation has sent shockwaves through Beijing, prompting China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to issue a series of stark warnings about the dangers of foreign infiltration and espionage.
On March 2, the PLA Daily‘s official commentary studio, “Junzhengping,” published a piece on Weibo titled “The Silent Shadow War: Everyone Must Stay Vigilant.” The commentary argued that as global competition intensifies, methods such as infiltration, intelligence theft, and subversion have become standard tools of “certain forces” seeking to sow instability from within. The piece drew a direct lesson from Iran’s downfall, stating that “the most fortified strongholds are often breached from the inside.”
The commentary warned Chinese citizens against complacency in everyday interactions, noting that casually mentioning sensitive information could hand adversaries the missing piece of an intelligence puzzle, accepting minor gifts or favors could open the door to manipulation, and taking seemingly friendly conversation at face value could allow bad actors to map out vulnerabilities.
China’s Ministry of State Security, the piece noted, publishes new cases of foreign espionage activity almost daily. The article urged every citizen to “stay alert, hold the line, and distinguish right from wrong,” so as to weave a security network that is “round-the-clock and without blind spots,” leaving no room for infiltration or subversion to take hold.
This followed an earlier PLA Daily commentary published on February 28, which called on “every Chinese son and daughter” to internalize the principle of never forgetting danger in times of peace. Only by “staying attuned to risk and preparing before the storm arrives,” it said, can China safeguard the hard-won stability it has achieved.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 3, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202603030295.aspx