February 8, 2023, 8:43 AM
February 8, 2023, 8:43 AM
The overflight of the United States by a Chinese balloon last week, a spy device according to Washington, raises questions about what methods the Asian giant uses to gather intelligence from other countries.
Beijing’s espionage constitutes “the greatest long-term threat to data and our nation’s intellectual propertyas well as for our economic vitality”, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, was alarmed in 2020.
“The allegations of so-called ‘Chinese espionage’ are not based on factual evidence, but on misinformation and hidden political objectives,” China’s Foreign Ministry told AFP.
Here are the main US grievances against Beijing in terms of espionage.
According to researchers and intelligence officials from Western countries, China has become expert in hacking computer systems from rival countries to obtain trade and industrial secrets.
The United States, its allies and NATO accused the Chinese government of a massive attack on the computer giant Microsoft in 2021, to access emails and confidential information of individuals and companies.
There are also suspicions of Chinese computer attacks in the United States against the Department of Energy, public services, telecommunications companies and universities, according to Washington and newspaper articles.
New technologies
Warnings are multiplying in the United States against the TikTok application and the supposed danger to national security represented by its link with China.
Some legislators fear that the TikTok parent, Chinese group ByteDancecan access the personal data of US users and transmit it to the Chinese authorities.
The United States also blacklisted the Huawei group, known for its mobile phones but also supplies state-of-the-art equipment for telecommunication networks and 5G.
Although without providing evidence, Washington fears that these products are used as a rear window to monitor communications and data traffic, something that the company strongly denies.
Beijing relies abroad on Chinese citizens to spy on and steal sensitive technologies, Washington says.
One of the most publicized cases was that of Chinese engineer Ji Chaoqunarrived in the United States in 2013 with a student visa and sentenced last month to eight years in prison.
The court accused him of supplying Chinese intelligence services with information about American scientists who could potentially serve as intelligence sources.
In 2020, Wei Sun, a Chinese naturalized American engineer who worked in the defense department of the Raytheon group, was sentenced to prison for bring a company computer to China with sensitive information about a missile system of the North American power.
To obtain first-hand information and promote its interests, Beijing also courts top-level political and economic personalities.
In 2020, the American information website Axios claimed that a Chinese student had established links with a number of political figures in the country on behalf of the Beijing intelligence services.
This student, Fang Fang, reportedly earned their trust by participating in fundraising events for election campaigns and cultivating their friendship, including through sexual relations, Axios said.
clandestine police stations
In addition to intelligence tools, China has hidden “police stations” in the United States and other countries, says the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders.
These undeclared structures can monitor dissidents or put pressure on them, according to this Madrid-based organization.
Beijing denies these accusations.
In November, the Netherlands ordered China to close two “police stations” on its territory. A month later, the Asian giant also closed two of these structures in Prague, according to the Czech authorities.
