Yes, but that doesn't mean that the CIA agent is a criminal. Consequently, if arrested in, let's say, Thailand and handed over to China he will presumably not

Yes, but that doesn't mean that the CIA agent is a criminal. Consequently, if arrested in, let's say, Thailand and handed over to China he will presumably not confess to espionage, just as Assange should not. He will instead presumably regard the procedure as irrelevant and say nothing. By entering into a guilty plea he is participating in a legal procedure which is bullshit, and by legitimising it he causes harm to others who would seek to obtain information about war crimes from foreign countries.