China on Friday announced it had recently uncovered a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "case of espionage" involving a Chinese national named Zeng who provided "core secret information" in return for money.

"After meticulous investigation, the state security authority obtained evidence of Zeng's espionage activities and, in accordance with the law, took coercive measures against him to eliminate the harm in a timely manner," Beijing's Ministry of State Security confirmed on its WeChat page.

The statement indicated that 52-year-old Zeng had been sent to Italy for studies, where he befriended a CIA agent stationed at the US embassy in Rome.

"Zeng gradually developed a psychological dependence on (the U.S. official), who took the opportunity to indoctrinate him with Western values," it mentioned.

The Chinese Ministry noted that the suspect was an employee of an unnamed Chinese military-industrial group with access to important classified information.

According to the statement, the CIA agent convinced Zeng to provide "sensitive information on the (Chinese) military" in exchange for "a huge amount of compensation" and assistance for Zeng and his family to move to the United States.

Zeng signed a contract with the US side and received training before returning to China to conduct espionage activity, the Chinese Ministry of State Security noted.

"Having finished overseas study, Zeng returned to China and continued to have multiple secret meetings with the CIA agents and provided a great amount of key intelligence and collected funds for spying," the statement read.

The case quickly received widespread attention in China, soaring to the top of a list of trending topics on the social media site Weibo on Friday morning.

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