What activities do Chinese spies engage in abroad?

They are stealing! They also have no intention of stopping: “They want to surpass us in technology and industry.”

Chinese economic espionage in the West is becoming more prevalent, according to FBI and British intelligence officials.

The Chinese aircraft that will compete with the 737 MAX and A320neo from Boeing and Airbus has finished its first test flight. Beijing proudly displayed its Comac C919 airplane and hailed it as a success of homegrown creativity. However, according to the US Department of Justice, “an aircraft created with stolen secrets from Western airlines” would be a better way to describe China’s first narrow-body passenger jet.

The Chinese manufacturer Comac, which created the C919, was allegedly the recipient of data stolen from Western airlines by a group of cyber-spies known as “Turbine Panda” from China. Due to their extensive infiltration and release of the Chinese Communist Party’s tentacles, British intelligence officials now assert that Chinese spies constitute a threat not only to the US but also to Great Britain (CCP).

During a joint conference in London, Ken McCallum, the director of the British intelligence service MI5, and Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, issued a warning over the rise of Chinese economic espionage in the West.

McCallum and Wray claimed that there is a Chinese spy network in Britain that has no intention of stopping with theft as long as it enables it to surpass its competitors in technology, industry, politics, and power. They were speaking to businessmen at Thames House, MI5’s headquarters. The FBI, according to Wray, initiates a new China-related probe every 12 hours, while Britain’s MI5 intelligence arm now conducts seven times as many inquiries into China as it did four years ago. According to McCallum, hostile actions are occurring on British land, and the Chinese threat is hazardous not only for the USA and the UK, but also for other Western allies.

LinkedIn is a top source

McCallum disclosed that MI5 stepped in after a British aviation expert was twice persuaded to travel to China by a tempting employment offer, he found online. The British expert was given money in exchange for comprehensive technical information regarding military aircraft after much courting and paid dinners. Beyond that, McCallum didn’t offer any more detail, merely mentioning that

LinkedIn has grown to be a popular hunting area for Chinese intelligence agents. Beijing denied all of the allegations, calling them “baseless.”

Chinese embassy in Britain spokesman: “They are spreading all kinds of lies about China to tarnish the Chinese political system, increase anti-Chinese sentiment and exclusion, as well as to divert public attention and cover up own shameful action. The alleged affairs they talked about are merely smokescreens.”

British intelligence often stays out of the spotlight, so their willingness to speak up and openly urge caution is a reflection of the threat’s magnitude as well as some annoyance that they are not being taken seriously enough. Chinese cyber-spies were originally seen as inept due to the large amount of digital evidence they left behind. However, recent years have seen a substantial improvement in their techniques. Research on a vaccine for COVID-19 was the primary target of spies last year, according to the British National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which documented a record number of occurrences.

The Chinese government has been accused by the British government of breaking into corporate email systems using loopholes in Microsoft’s Exchange server in order to access emails, contacts, and other data from targeted businesses. An operation known as Operation Cloud Hopper that targeted IT service providers and used them as a launching pad to expose the secrets of carefully chosen targets was discovered by British investigators.

Major losses

For instance, Chinese hackers infected a Chinese restaurant’s online menu in order to introduce malware into the system of an American oil business. Ian Williams, a journalist for the Sunday Times and the author of “Every Breath You Take: China’s New Tyranny,” explains how when the company’s engineers clicked to get their takeaway, hackers would have access to a sizable quantity of private information. The Chinese are “the most prolific and persistent offenders of economic espionage in the world,” according to the US National Counterintelligence Service.

The FBI says that China is fostering a new generation of “patriotic hackers” who target cutting-edge technology in which China wants to lead and that China has roughly 30,000 military cyber-spies and 150,000 unofficial hackers that it can activate at any time. Former US National Security Agency director Keith Alexander calls US loses from cyberespionage “the greatest transfer of money in history.” Information collecting by China extends outside of the internet. Today, the Chinese maintain several scientific collaborations with Western universities in addition to corporate connections.

At least 50 Chinese students had to leave British colleges, according to McCallum, who disclosed that their investigations had turned up linkages to the military and other institutions. The UK is rapaciously utilising its relationship with China, which is the largest foreign market for British colleges, while turning a blind eye to any potential risks.

Chinese partners with Beijing-related ties are well-established in British campuses, and Chinese students pay tuition fees that exceed £30,000 annually. While the West has been alarmed by our dependence on Russian gas, analysts say the consequences of severing ties with China would be considerably bigger.

Many important supply chains, including those for fundamental minerals like lithium and rare metals, which are essential to rechargeable batteries and other green technology, transit through China. investments made by China At the same time, Britain accepts 200 enterprises and a £134 billion investment from China.

Chinese investments have been made in a variety of businesses, including nuclear power reactors, electric battery producers, Heathrow Airport, Pizza Express, travel agency Thomas Cook, football clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton, and black cab manufacturer LEVCU. Despite being barred from 5G telecommunications networks, Britain continues to rely heavily on Huawei for its 4G infrastructure. The Oxford Sciences Innovation firm, which commercialises research from Oxford University, also gave Huawei permission to purchase a tiny stake. This gave the Chinese corporation access to some of the most exciting early-stage technology created by British academics.

Although the corporation is well rooted in the British economy and academic community, the government’s decision to bar Huawei from Britain’s 5G telecoms networks is frequently interpreted as a sign of its intention to fight Chinese influence. Without a clear definition of what “strategic” means, investment regulations for “strategic” areas have been tightened. The monitoring of academic relationships has been strengthened, but the regulations are murky, making colleges motivated to discover loopholes to shield funding from Chinese students and research collaborations. The British government has also disregarded pleas to restrict Chinese-supplied “smart city” technology, such as cameras and sensors, which intelligence officials have warned may be used for spying, disruption, or the theft of private information.

The non-profit group Big Brother Watch claims that 73% of UK councils, 57% of secondary schools in England, 61% of NHS trusts, UK universities, and the police utilise equipment made by Chinese corporations that are allegedly complicit in human rights violations.

There is simply no such thing as a private Chinese corporation in any sense, McCallum and Wray said, and all Chinese businesses and research institutions must answer to the Chinese Communist Party.

Collaboration to protect “National security” is a requirement under the law. Be aware that you are interacting with the Chinese government as well.

Like almost quiet partners, said Wray. The massive “Chinese machine” is the focus of British intelligence agencies, who have made it clear that they are adamant that the next prime minister placed the Chinese threat at the top of the political agenda.

This post was written by Mario Bekes