The flyby of a balloon last week raises questions about what methods the Asian giant uses to gather intelligence from other countries.
The overflight of the United States by a balloon from China last week, a spy device according to Washington, raises questions about What methods does the Asian giant use? to gather intelligence from other countries.
Beijing’s espionage constitutes “the biggest long-term threat for our nation’s data and intellectual property, as well as for our economic vitality,” FBI Director Christopher Wray alarmed in 2020.
“Accusations of so-called ‘Chinese espionage’ not based on factual evidencebut on disinformation and hidden political objectives,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP.
Below are the main US accusations against Beijing in terms of espionage.
The forms
According to researchers and intelligence officials from Western countries, China has become an expert in hack computer systems from rival countries to obtain trade and industrial secrets.
The United States, its allies and NATO indicted the Chinese government in 2021 a massive attack to the computer giant Microsoft, 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.
Warnings multiply in the United States against the TikTok app and the alleged danger to national security posed by its link to China.
Some lawmakers fear that TikTok’s parent, the Chinese group ByteDance, can access the personal data of users Americans and transmit them to the Chinese authorities.
The United States also blacklisted to Huawei groupi, known for its mobile phones but which also supplies state-of-the-art equipment for telecommunications 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 the Chinese engineer Ji Chaoqun, who arrived in the United States in 2013 on 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 at the Raytheon group’s defense department, was sentenced to jail for bringing China a company computer with sensitive information on a missile system of the North American power.
The “courts”
In order to obtain first-hand information and promote its interests, Beijing he also courts political and economic personalities first level.
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 Beijing’s intelligence services.
This student, Fang Fang, would have earned their trust participating in campaign fundraising events and cultivating their friendship, including through sexual relations, Axios said.
In addition to intelligence tools, China has in the United States and other countries hidden “police stations”says the organization that defends human rights, Safeguard Defenders.
These undeclared structures they can monitor dissidents or put pressure on themaccording to this Madrid-based organization.
Beijing denies these accusations.
In November, the Netherlands ordered China to close two “police stations” in their territory. A month later, the Asian giant also closed two of these structures in Prague, according to the Czech authorities.
AFP agency
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