China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s top spy agency, has accused two of its citizens, a husband and wife, of spying for Great Britain.
At a press conference about the incident, Chinese officials rebuked Britain, accusing them of “smearing” China with spy hype, but the incident comes just weeks after a rash of Chinese spy incidents occurred across Europe, Canada, the UK and the US. The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece, commented: “We urge the UK to stop spreading disinformation and stop political manipulation and malicious slander against China.”
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) consistently conducts covert operations abroad, encompassing spying for state secrets, industrial espionage, IP theft, influence operations and tracking or harassing dissidents living abroad.
This campaign of irregular warfare appears to be escalating, coinciding with the fast-approaching deadlines for Beijing’s 2027 and 2035 goals of military modernization and economic development. Without these goals, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) knows that China will be unable to surpass the US and achieve global dominance by 2049.
Last week, a British court charged two former parliamentary researchers with spying for China. Meanwhile, in Germany, an aide to an EU Parliament lawmaker was arrested for espionage.
This arrest followed the detention of three individuals in Germany on unrelated espionage charges for China. This means that six individuals across Europe facing charges for spying on behalf of the CCP.
Citing national security concerns, Swedish authorities expelled a Chinese woman who had lived in Sweden for 20 years, employed as a journalist. Officials stated she had ties to the embassy and links to the Chinese government.
German Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser noted these cases as evidence of PRC intelligence agencies attacking the European Parliament and undermining European democracy.
Faeser’s claims were strengthened by recent discoveries in Britain, where Chinese hackers breached the country’s electoral watchdog and targeted the e-mail of members of Parliament.
Hacking serves as another tool employed by Beijing to advance its policy objectives. Additionally, Chinese hackers breached defense networks in the Netherlands last year and targeted the Norwegian government’s computer systems in 2021.
In North America, Chinese ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu (叢培武) resigned in April without specifying reasons and returned to China.
Suspicions have arisen regarding a previous incident where Chinese diplomats were expelled from Canada for targeting a Canadian Conservative lawmaker and his family in Hong Kong. There is evidence pointing to Chinese efforts targeting lawmakers critical of Beijing’s positions.
Canadian intelligence has uncovered Chinese interference in the past two elections. In addition to influence operations, Canada is also dealing with PRC-linked industrial espionage. Consequently, Canada has intensified the scrutiny of visa applications from Chinese engineering students posing potential espionage threats.
The FBI, identifying China as the greatest economic and intelligence threat to the US, cautioned that “the Chinese government is employing tactics that seek to influence lawmakers and public opinion to achieve policies that are more favorable to China.”
The FBI further states that “China’s efforts target businesses, academic institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general public.”
It appears that China is also endeavoring to influence the governments of European nations, the UK and Canada.
In the US, two Chinese nationals were charged with conspiring to provide Beijing with US chip manufacturing technology that is banned for export to China.
Last month, the US Department of Justice indicted seven people associated with the Chinese government for computer intrusions targeting China critics in the US, along with US businesses and politicians.
FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that these attacks were an attempt by the CCP to undermine the nation’s security and innovation. This aligns with China’s 2049 goal to surpass the US economically, diplomatically and militarily.
To achieve this objective, Beijing is employing a comprehensive whole-of-government approach to acquire technology and military secrets for the modernization of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Whole-of-government and military-civil fusion are strategies Beijing employs, combining its public and private-sector entities to achieve strategic goals, including advancing Chinese trade to boost the economy and undermining the export capacity of the West.
During a week marked by spy-catching activities, authorities in the Netherlands and Poland, acting under the authority of the European Commission, raided the offices of a Chinese security equipment supplier guilty of unfair trade practices due to government subsidies.
While not espionage per se, the Chinese government subsidizes ostensibly private Chinese companies embedded in foreign countries to outcompete the West.
Nuctech, a company previously led by former Chinese president Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) son, has often been cited for its close ties to the CCP.
The distinction between market competition and foreign agents has become blurred for many Chinese companies.
In response to the numerous spy allegations across Europe and North America, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) issued a statement, declaring: “We firmly oppose such hype and we urge relevant parties to stop spreading disinformation about the so-called ‘China spy threat’ and halt political manipulation and malicious smears against China.”
One of the challenges facing efforts to combat Chinese espionage, from Europe to Canada and the US, is strict laws protecting citizens and visitors against racially exclusive policies or so-called “racial profiling.”
The US Justice Department, for example, yielded to pressure to end the China Initiative, a policy implemented during the administration of former US president Donald Trump aimed at curbing espionage and intellectual property theft by the PRC. Liberal democrats, along with civil rights groups in the US, said the name and purpose of the initiative were racist.
Meanwhile, the US intelligence community is aware that Beijing controls numerous anonymous social media accounts, which amplify outrage over any policies targeting Beijing.
These accounts often frame their message to resonate with “social justice warriors” or activists who organize protests and social media campaigns, urging lawmakers to revise government policies.
Antonio Graceffo, a China economic analyst who holds a China MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University, studies national defense at the American Military University in West Virginia.
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