Today, as the technological competition between China and the United States becomes increasingly fierce, technology companies are also in a state of high tension. Concerns about espionage, including so-called honey traps, have also reached unprecedented levels.
The Wall Street Journal reported that companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have provided relevant training. OpenAI once cited a case where in order to seduce an American diplomat stationed in Russia, a blond woman was first sent to his hotel room with champagne. After the attempt failed, a red-haired woman then came to the door, and finally even sent a man to knock on the door.
China Table, a professional news magazine owned by Table Media that focuses on China issues, published an article stating that both the KGB and the intelligence agencies of the Eastern European Bloc have used this method to the extreme.
In specialized schools such as State School Number Four in Kazan, female "swallows" and male "crows" learn various seduction techniques.
Historical "honey trap" attacks include British diplomat John Vassall in 1954 and French Ambassador Maurice Dejeam in 1960.
The Stasi, the East German state security ministry, also used so-called "Romeo spies".
As for whether Alice Huang (Chinese transliteration Huang Le) is also in this situation, there is currently no evidence to support it.
However, her company, Megaspeed, is now under investigation. The company purchases Nvidia processors and rents computing power to customers in Southeast Asia.
According to Reuters, this relationship has helped it deliver at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies.
Technology media The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with Alice Huang's situation, that she, her husband and sister established a network of companies across China and Singapore to obtain Nvidia chips.
According to reports, at the heart of the network is a Chinese company called Shanghai Century Litong. The company was established in June 2023 and obtained NVIDIA's "Priority Cloud Partner" status in October of the same year, giving it priority to obtain NVIDIA chip supply.
The Information stated that when orders for Nvidia chips that were restricted by U.S. export controls stalled, Alice Huang used her relationship with Nvidia and its distributors to obtain supply and helped approximately 240,000 H100, H200 and some A100 chips enter China.
China Table analysis pointed out that for China, being close to Huang Renxun has special value. Huang, 63, is in a strategically critical position. The company he leads holds core technologies that are critical to U.S. AI competitiveness. Therefore, once he becomes a target, the potential impact is huge.
First, Huang may reveal information about the direction of the company's technology, even if it's just a hint. Secondly, Huang understands the interest demands of the U.S. technology industry and maintains contact with policy decision-makers in Washington. Third, close personal relationships may also provide access to others in the tech industry and their political circles.
Not only Western countries, but China is also wary of such actions. China Table pointed out that in January this year, a social media account associated with the National Secrecy Administration published a warning article. The article mentioned that a project manager of a military industrial enterprise was approached by a female spy from a foreign intelligence agency abroad.
Previously, China has warned its citizens not to establish too close personal relationships with foreigners because they may be spies.
