The Times of London occasionally makes editorial content accessible to us without a subscription. It remains accessible for a few days. Last week’s column by Elsa Johnson is one that remains accessible as I write and I urge readers to check it out: “I’m a Stanford student. A Chinese agent tried to recruit me as a spy.” Subhead: “For three months a man bombarded me with messages, trying to lure me to China with promises of money and fame. Now, I’m revealing his tactics.”
The column is a chilling first-person account that makes for compelling reading. Meet Charles Chen or Chan — not to be confused with Charlie Chan, though Ms. Johnson’s column does remind me of the title Charlie Chan’s Secret from the classic Hollywood movie series and one of Charlie’s sayings: “Motive like end of string – tied to many knots. End may be in sight but hard to unravel.”
