Your current understanding of the CIA is a wee bit out-of-date. The CIA acts primarily as watch dogs today and recruits local people as "spies."

I mean, look at the current situation: you've got the NSA recording everything electronic and China already has infiltrated everything the NSA can access. No one is going to be able to do anything large-scale that the other isn't already knowledgeable about. Imagine a chess game when your opponent knows your every move beforehand as do you - constant stalemate unless you prove to be unpredictable in the extreme.

That era of history is past.

But I would bet GOOD mobey that there are sleeper cells already in China, waiting to be activated.

The CIA has every country infiltrated. There's this paranoia that every other country wants to destroy the US in one way or other, sow discord, create disorder etc etc....fact is, nobody so much as care about what US does if they don't stick their noses in another country's shit. 

If there is something about the US that keeps me in awe, it is its capacity to be very, very well informed on the global situation of any country in the world, and the wonders of imagination it can deploy so as to achieve its goals. Most of the time, those are undoubtedly selfish and evil to the bone, but yet, I respect intelligence, and I pay respect where respect is due.

Now, an overview of the situation in China, on an intelligence agency standpoint:

- Down to earth and greedy politicians at every level, balanced with VERY harsh sanctions in case of betrayal. Chances of having moles on top levels? Average.

- Massive use of American technology throughout the country (how many banks or official institutions still use ActiveX technology? Surrealist.), most probably rigged by the NSA. Near to zero awareness of the general population (so virtually full control over whatever data people exchange, no matter how hard local technologies are pushed). Expect top level government networks and tech to be quite secured, but not impenetrable.

- Strong intellectual grasp and supervision of the government over its population. The classic manual on indoctrinment might not work. But this is a double edged sword: population is already intellectually weak and fully prepared to accept low level manipulation: blind acceptation of slogans, no will to look for a full picture, sensitivity to idiotic rumors (this one would be my angle down that road).

I expect the CIA to have a pretty accurate picture of what's going on in China. Problem is, you really don't need crazy resources to have access to all that. It's not like it wasn't all fully predictable (get a memo on the biggest heads of administration and you're politically good to go for a decade), or if any kind of innovation was really going on in the country, making corporate spying worthwhile.

Direct influence might be significantly harder, since all PCC efforts are constantly dedicated to keep its population away from any form of foreign contact.

The most efficient way to create real unrest, as it is, would be by using the economy in a way or another. Hit the people where they care, which is certainly not politics, or any kind of intellectually challenging stuff. This is wet tinder already, won't take the spark.

If you have time though, I'd say just sit tight and wait. It's not gonna be much longer until this country starts importing oxygen and the memory of a blue sky. The best economy in the world won't be much once it'll start needing to build infrastructures like it's settling on Mars.

You should be in Shenzhen on August 11th-18th, 2013 to see (too) many Caucasian faces around Railway Station. That's the date of my every year's trip to HK.

Once you sit and wait for the right train, you could easily spot 'too many laowai' walking around RS. 

They were there (CIA's top echelon), 'cause Up-yours was on 'official visit/sit down' to HK Embassy! They were all making 'empty swallow' moves with their mouths, while walking around RS.

O2, since when is 'high altitude' in Fuk.?

However, that statement is very difficult to prove, so take it only as my opinion.

They were there, less in China, more in HK, because in HK there are many foreigners, and it's easier to blend in.

Now, the closest they can come to 'Up-yours' is Ukraine! 

http://rt.com/news/154744-ecuador-ejects-state-department/

‘Mutual distrust’: Ecuador ejects US military group

Ecuador has given a group of 20 US Defense Department employees until the end of the month to quit the country. President Rafael Correa had previously said the presence of the US military in Ecuador was “scandalous” and they had “infiltrated all sectors.”

There are about 50 of them. Who can justify this? We are now taking action accordingly,” he said in January, pledging to have them removed from the country. He added that these operatives had infiltrated all sectors of the Ecuadorian political sphere, referring to their presence as “scandalous.”

It's just a game all nations play.

And it's easy money for those lucky enough to be" undercover" 

I am thinking of "Our man in Havanna" here. A great story by Graham Greene. All about a hoover salesman in Cuba who is recruited  to be a British spy. The movie is great, well worth looking for.

I doubt it. Our government is inept now.

They can't even infiltrate Russia (they've been thrown out many times for even trying), and their test-spy, Snowden, isn't working out for them because he can't get access to anything or anyone important.

Many of them were involved in the Benghazi attacks, and they got their shit ruined pretty hard by a bunch of dumbass extremists. Another idiot managed to get caught on an "unauthorized" (yeah right) mission in the Middle East.

The CIA isn't anywhere near as good as they used to be. They're a dinosaur, a relic of bygone times. They're desperately trying to stay relevant, and it's not working: they troll internet forums to make them seem hardcore and mysterious, hoping to find people interested in working for them, so maybe someone can gain access to the things they aren't able to.

It's really sad. I would honestly laugh uncontrollably if the CIA could somehow infiltrate something other than a rural villager in China. 

Seems like their interest in PRC is primarily counterespionage. US DHS has identified this country as the number 1 security threat to American technology, and PRC is clearly determined to steal as much as it can. So US intelligence would be very interested in countering this (though according to the article posted a week ago about the Ch. whore who successfully seduced a defense contractor in Hawaii and stole classified information, they have missed some major breaches). Good luck to them in protecting their nation, as I despise thieves.

In fact CIHay need rest... By now they have infiltrated many and China without their favorite FB and Youtube vessels could be a tough choice....

P came out with a blunt edge from his 'Den'.

"Google Search Engine is directly under observation of CIHay". Moreover, Internet was planned in asystematic way to conduct the operations of spying in the world. Don't you see in some countries internet is cheaper than one time meal?  Infiltrate or occupy?

They already have.  American Culture, American Technology, A shift to an American style education system. The rich sending all their money to America. The Chinese Military is even adopting American Military tactics. When Chairman Ping opened China to America 40  years ago he made sure all the companies had to have partnerships with State owned companies. This guaranteed the Chinese companies could be controlled by NSA/CIA operatives.

Actually, most of the spying done these days is at the corporate level. A few corporations in the U.S. have already admitted to getting using CIA intelligence to keep track of Chinese businesses that they see as a threat, but then again maybe I’m prone to conspiracies. Unfortunately the conspiracy theorists seem to be getting more and more correct in their assumption that where ever you go “they” are watching.

It's funny how some posters assert something that really none of us know about until Mr Snowden or others are able to leak it.  With that being said, it is not unfathomable to assume the US probably has wire taps and satellite technology to listen in on CCP's conversations.  I'm sure that there is probably a huge cat and mouse game about what is credible intelligence and what is fake intelligence.  Because why wouldn't China assume the US has the technology.  I remember reading about how the US successfully infiltrates computer networks.  Through human error.  Some dumb gov't official uses their flash memory stick at work, then uses it at home on a PC that is infected with spy software. What was the name of that sophisticated program Mcafee and the other ones found a while back? It started with an "S" and apparently it had been running for 10 years before anyone discovered it. I think it was sphinx? Anyone remember?

They have been in China for years and originally used Church mission groups to get access. Now they own and operate many front companies here that actually do real business. My former employer was a retired "analyst" from the company and he old me he worked a couple of years on something called "Team China" which was a think tank of sorts of how to manipulate events and disrupt daily life on the mainland, in the event of some conflict developing that was short of war.  I am sure they have such contingency plans for Russia and other potentially hostile nations.

It seems obvious now that the vast majority of intelligence that the USA gathers from China comes from the Internet and other electronic communication intercepts.  In addition to the massive campaign of electronic surveillance of the entire world including China, it is safe to assume that America also has numerous human intelligence assets embedded in China not only to gather information but also for covert and overt actions because China is a major economic power these days. I would guess that most of the spying on China is for economic reasons rather than military reasons because it seems that the leaders in the USA are not very concerned about the military capability of China but they are greatly concerned about the economic potential of China.  I would speculate that the information gathered from spying on China is used mostly to benefit Fortune 500 companies and Wall Street bankers (and political contributors) to bolster the American economy via “trickle down.”