A bizarre Chinese spy drama involving fire trucks broke out at a secret military base in Virginia...

Advertise with Mother Jones

hallojulie/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Some serious spy drama broke out at a sensitive US military base in Virginia in September, according to a bizarre story published by the New York Times Sunday morning, resulting in the first expulsion of Chinese Embassy officials in more than 30 years, at a time of increased tensions between the two trade-warring countries.

Some of the early details reported by the Times, quoting “six people with knowledge of the expulsions,” could have been lifted from a pulpy television spy drama like The Americans: two Chinese officials and their wives drove up to the military complex near Norfolk, where they were denied entry by a guard, who told them to enter the gate, turn around, and leave.