The Chinese national, surnamed Hao, was a cadre at a ministry and had gone to Japan for studies, which was where the spying recruitment occurred, the ministry says.

Coercive measures, which normally means detention, have been taken against the alleged spy, China's state security ministry says.

William Burns is not the first CIA director to attain Cabinet status.

The phone call was said to be the highest-level contact between the two governments since the attempted mutiny.

A report points to China’s 'expansion of technology-driven authoritarianism globally,' citing its aggressive efforts to control and manipulate the free flow of content globally.

Beyond the war, Russia and the US have a host of outstanding issues to discuss, ranging from the extension of a nuclear arms reduction treaty and a Black Sea grain deal to a possible prisoner swap and the Syrian civil war.

For several years, the US had been aware of a network that it assessed supported Zawahiri, and over the past year, officials had been watching for indications of Al Qaeda's presence in the country.

Attorneys say the defendants – Mohammed, Ammar al-Baluchi, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – are all weak and suffer the lasting effects of severe torture endured in CIA 'black' sites.

If confirmed, it will have been the highest-level encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants' return to power.

The judge has also instructed the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence to explain why they are withholding the tape and a CIA report on the gruesome killing.