The Chinese government’s ‘vacuum cleaner’ approach to espionage is worrying foreign governments, companies and overseas dissidents. They’re right to be concerned.
Beijing fiercely denies it. Much of the world ignores it. But according to analysts and officials, the communist-controlled People’s Republic of China operates the single largest intelligence-gathering apparatus in the world—and its growing appetite for secrets has apparently become insatiable.
From economic and military espionage to keeping tabs on exiled dissidents, China’s global spying operations are rapidly expanding. And, therefore, so is the threat. Some analysts even argue the regime—which is also gobbling up such key natural resources as farmland, energy, and minerals—has an eye on dominating the world.
Estimates on the number of spies and agents employed by the communist state vary widely. According to public statements by French author and investigative journalist Roger Faligot, who has written several books about the regime’s security services, there are around two million Chinese working directly or indirectly for China’s intelligence apparatus.
Other analysts say it would be impossible to count the exact number. ‘I doubt they know themselves,’ says Richard Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian military affairs at the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center. Regardless, the number is undoubtedly extraordinary. ‘China can rightly claim to have the world’s largest, most amorphous, but also most active intelligence sector,’ he says.
That’s partly because it operates very differently from most. ‘When you consider that China’s intelligence community views any foreign-deployed Chinese citizen, any Chinese delegation, all Chinese criminal networks, and all overseas Chinese with any tangible affinity or connection to the Motherland as a target for recruitment, then you have to find a different way to measure,’ Fisher explains. ‘This has to start with the consideration that any Chinese, especially those from China, from student to CEO, are potential active intelligence assets.’
Other analysts echo his concerns, and a simple fact: the regime’s spies are increasingly active across the globe. Since 2008, more and more intelligence-training colleges—‘spy schools’—have been popping up at universities across the country. Meanwhile, Chinese satellite-reconnaissance and cyber espionage capabilities are expanding at an unprecedented speed.
Officials are, probably for good reason, skittish when discussing China and its intelligence collection operations. But there’s near unanimous agreement—and court convictions in countries around the globe support the premise—that, in terms of sophistication, scope, and international capabilities, the perils of Chinese espionage are on the rise.
‘The danger is pronounced,’ warns Charles Viar, chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Intelligence Studies. ‘In my view, no one is really doing enough to deal with the Chinese threat. It is too large, and by Western standards, too unconventional.’
Among the array of growing dangers associated with Chinese spying: the regime’s increasingly advanced cyber capabilities. While the techniques are used to steal ever more information of all sorts, the potential for devastating offensive operations exists as well. Leaked US diplomatic cables and cyber-security analysts suggest that Chinese military intelligence has been involved in countless network penetrations in recent years. In some instances, evidence suggests that the regime is even able to remotely control sensitive systems.
Consider one example: In 2009, senior US officials reported that cyber spies—at least some of whom were Chinese—infiltrated the US electrical grid. And after breaking in, they left software behind that could be used to cause disruptions or possibly even shut the system down.
The Evolution of the Menace
Though the evolving threats are more advanced and dangerous today than ever before, Chinese espionage is nothing new. In fact, it began centuries ago—well before the communist regime rose to power.
‘China has a history of organized intelligence-gathering operations that goes back to the 15th century—perhaps even earlier,’ says Joseph Fitsanakis, a senior editor with Intel News who teaches classes on espionage, intelligence, and covert action at King College’s Department of History and Political Science. The Chinese, however, took it to a new level.
Up until two to three decades ago, the regime’s spying was largely domestic in nature, Fitsanakis explains—primarily targeting perceived enemies and dissidents within China. But in the post-1980s era, with economic reforms and growing affluence pacifying much of the internal unrest, Chinese intelligence collection efforts began to focus more on the outside world.
Today, according to experts and former counterintelligence officials, Chinese spying represents one of the largest threats to US security. And the sheer size of the regime’s espionage apparatus ‘is proving a good match for the more advanced automated systems used by its less populous regional rivals, including Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan,’ adds Fitsanakis.
Public awareness of the hidden menace is indeed on the rise. But available evidence indicates that the danger is still underestimated—and growing quickly.
‘The Chinese are the biggest problem we have with respect to the level of effort that they’re devoting against us versus the level of attention we are giving to them,’ former US counterintelligence chief Michelle Van Cleave told CBS during an interview. Officials with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), meanwhile, labelled China’s ‘aggressive and wide-ranging espionage’ the ‘leading threat to US technology.’
According to former Chinese intelligence officials who defected to the West, the United States is indeed China’s main target for espionage. But as China steps up its spying around the world, it’s becoming clear that no nation, company, military, or exiled dissident is immune.
Espionage & Influence
Like the intelligence services of most large and powerful countries, a significant segment of China’s spying apparatus is devoted to collecting information on foreign governments—particularly in terms of their military and political systems. Vast numbers of Chinese spies have been caught stealing such secrets.
In fact, it’s known that the regime has already acquired some of the United States’ most sensitive secrets. A US Congressional Committee and then-Director of National Intelligence George Tenet found as early as the late-1990s that China had even obtained information on the United States’ most advanced nuclear weapons.
That’s not all. ‘China has managed to gather a great deal of information on US stealth technology, naval propulsion systems, electronic warfare systems, and nuclear weapons through espionage,’ says Larry Wortzel, a commissioner and former chairman on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and the ex-director of the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute. ‘That is documented in convictions in US courts.’
The regime, however, wants more. A few Chinese espionage cases have made headlines recently, such as the scandal involving former weapons analyst Gregg Bergersen with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency. A leaked video of him selling sensitive information about US military collaboration with Taiwan—a nation which the communist regime considers a breakaway territory—sparked a new level of public interest in Chinese espionage just last year.
But most cases barely cause a stir. According to an analysis of US Justice Department records by the Associated Press, there have been at least 58 defendants charged in federal court for China-related espionage since 2008. Most have been convicted, while the rest are awaiting trial or on the run. Hundreds of investigations are ongoing.
A leaked diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Santiago, Chile, also revealed that US officials were worried about Chinese espionage against the US military even in Latin America. ‘There’s concern that the Chinese could be using Chilean officers and access to the Army training school to learn more about joint programs, priorities, and techniques that the Chileans have developed with their US counterparts,’ noted the 2005 cable signed by then-Ambassador Craig Kelly, adding that even Chinese journalists were ‘assumed’ to be involved in some kind of collection activity.
‘(A)s the (US government) augments its support to the Chilean Armed Forces, Chinese interest in USG activities in the Southern Cone will most assuredly increase,’ according to the document released earlier this year by WikiLeaks. ‘The Chinese will likely attempt to learn more about US military strategies and techniques via Chilean participation in bilateral training programs and joint exercises.’
Photo Credit: yeowatzup
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Bob
I stopped reading at “[China] has an eye on dominating the world”
You can’t really expect anyone to take you seriously with these kind of statements?
To be honest, I’m a little concerned about the US, the country has all the ingredients for becoming the next Nazi Germany: a fanatical public that will believe in anything, a government that’s obsessed with war, and a culture that loves blaming others for their own problems.
James the Australian
How true.
It remind me of a movie, starring Denzel Washington in which he was fighting an evil entity, that can jump from one person to another or to another living creature.
The USA was a kind, hard working and considerate Nation prior to WWII.
It saved the world from the Satan possessed Germany and Japan.
You can say, it was a battle of Good versus evil and the Good USA triumph!
However, like the plot in the movie, the evil jumped into the USA from the vanquished Germany and Japan and has since taken root and completely demonise the USA.
Just study the USA closely and you will see that the USA shows all the Seven Deadly Sins mentioned in the Holy Bible….Pride, Blesphemy,Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttonny and Sin of the Flesh!
The once sacred word MARRIAGE has been turned upside down by same sex union, masqurading as marriage and Collateral Damage meaning civilian deaths is so proudly talk of by their military.
The USA poises the greatest threat to Peace and Planet Earth as it is a Satanic possessed Nation.
John
So what is the Chinese Govt.?
We know how they treated thier citizens in the past and how they treat them today. Do you want them to have a greater say over your life?
John Chan
@John:
No matter what Chinese Govt. does, they can’t overtake USA government’s greater say over your life. US Homeland Security can see you naked thru clothes without your permission, and sell those images on the market for profits at will.
US government can tramp and violate your liberty and privacy in the name of anti-terrorism without respect the constitution.
James the Australian
I have lived and worked for a couple of years in China and I have travelled the USA.
Just say, I find China a safer and more pleasant country to be in then the USA.
American society is crime ridden and violent that I do not feel safe to walk its streets at night.
In China, I feel very safe where ever I go.Also, I find that in China, the majority of their citizen are happy with their life.Can you say that about the USA these days?
Do I need to say more?
Bill
LOL, I am Chinese, so by this article, I am suppose to be a spy for the government. Hey, where is my money?? I demand payment for my natural birth!
yang zi
I totally get the paranoia displayed by this article though. It comes from the cold war tradition and basic tribal instinct.
Chinese that took the american citizenship oath, should be loyal to the oath and defend America if called upon. I think that should be a given. but a lot of them also loves China. it is up to these people to show China and US can both succeed and win.
OT
This is too long so I didn’t read all of it, but this jumped out:
” a 2003 case in which two Chinese diplomatic officials in Edmonton were caught handing out pamphlets inciting hatred against the Falun Gong—a crime in Canada”
Darn, I am REALLY sad I missed those diplomats. They would have warmed my heart and made my day. But all I get to see are crazy FLG people trying to stuff pamphlets in my hands, and seriously it takes a lot of my self restraint to not spit in their faces. Apparently you can incite hatred against Chinese government using lies and that’s perfectly legal, and passing out pamphlets about FLG is illegal. So much for freedom of speech eh?
BTW every time I see FLG newspaper, I take a huge stash. Well, they are free, and I can use the paper to do paper mache or wrap stuff and such, lol.
yang zi
I wouldn’t be too harsh on FLG. I don’t like its politics, but it has the real health benefits, of course the religious part is very powerful and the practitioners are very faithful.
we will know the real power of FLG once the master Li dies. if it can exist and grow, it can be one of the dominate religion in the world, given the right circumstances. since it offers the concrete health benefits, it has the potential to be a superior religion than existing ones in this world.
SS
Totally agree. This is exactly what I feel.
a_canadian_observer
@OT: I’ve met a number of FLG people. I found them to be quite humble individuals, contrary to what you’re stating. Your attitude here is quite showing, buddy. It shows your true color.
Huang
You see violet and they see blue
You think you are right and they think you are wrong
You sneak in and you sneak out
They showed their colors and so did you
“What to do to?” you asked,just be yourself they said
Pro CCP or anti-CCP,right or wrong,true or false,success or failure …are different sides of the same coin.
At the end of the day,the only thing left standing is truth,common sense,positive human behaviors(NOT run away emotions or un-controllable outbursts of fears,jealousies of what? I don’t know…)
So! be cool my friends
a_canadian_observer
@Huang: My friend, the truth is: FLG is not responsible for the 60 million chinese deaths; the CCP is. Now, if you still don’t see right from wrong, well, I have nothing to say to you…
ozivan
@Huang. You’re getting to be a good poet. Putting political views into a poem. That calls for some skill.
John Chan
@a_canadian_observer:
“jeff forsythe” said the number was 80 millions, it seems you got out bided by “jeff forsythe.” Why don’t you raise the stake by increasing the number to 100 million? What the hack, lie once, twice or all the time, what’s the difference, it does not hurt the people who are shameless and no integrity at all.
ozivan
@John Chan. The 100 million mark is already taken by @ChrisH in Diplomat’s Debating Missile Defence on Sept 19, 2011.
Who’s for 120 million ?
Oh Yeah?
The radical right wing neocon writes another alarmist piece on a subject which he knows very little about. Even if you agree with the author’s Sinophobia there is nothing new here which most don’t know already. Nations spy on each other all the time. China has a huge population and have successfully migrated all across the world. The author is one step short from proposing to lock up all American Chinese in this country. Conservatives all over use nationalism notion of 5th column to strip away the liberties immigrants everywhere. The irony here is that this author has an equally stupid Chinese nationalist counterpart somewhere in China, who also publishes similar nationalist nonsense against the US.
Ever since the debt ceiling debate, it’s apparent that the defense industry is spending plenty of extra money to buy off political hacks in order to drum up fear. It’s sad that the tax payers will continue to spend on defense rather than to make America more competitive elsewhere.
Borg
So much for that whole “communism is dead” meme. Obviously it is alive and well.
Anybody who is not worried about this needs to remember that these butchers of Beijing have exterminated more than 60 million of their own people not counting the forced abortions and they are still arresting Christians and others who do not worship at the altar the corrupt Party.
John Chan
@Borg:
Although Chinese are numerous, but they are human beings just like all others, it takes 10 months to produce one; Chinese is not cybemetic organisms that can be fabricated like borg. 60 millions of Chinese take a lot of time and resource to produce, it is not as easy as the anti-China bigots can inflate their horrendous numbers, anti-China bigots can inflate from few thousands to tens of million in every new posting.
It seems you are out of date, the latest number on this site is 78 millions.
On the other hand the king of butchering their own kind on the industrial scale and efficiency must go to the Europeans, for them ten of millions is the real number they slaughtered, not a fabrication.
Huang
Communism is not only alive,it is thriving and will be just another branch of ideology on the tree called “political systems
“.
But before anyone start to panic,please be advised that China’s Communist party DOES NOT intend and will NOT seek to promote its ideology to any other nations as was the case during the ideological war of the COLD WAR era.
Socialism with Chinese Characteristics fit perfectly for the Chinese nation and MIGHT NOT be suitable in other country(so,unfounded fears need not be).
Socialism,when interpreted correctly,does not in anyway differs from the goals or purposes of Capitalism.
The late Chinese leader comrade “Deng” initiated the better understanding and interpretations of the essence of Socialism and the following definitions should be familiar to people of the “FREE WORLD” OR “THE ONE AND ONLY DEMOCRACY”:
Its not Socialism if the people are starving
Its not Socialism if the people do not get a decent way of life
Its not Socialism if the people are not free to gain wealth
Its not socialism if the people do not get decent education
Its not Socialism if talents are not utilized base on merits
And finally,it is not a crime to get wealthy under Socialism
Of course, I mught miss a few others,but I think I got my point across already.
So! there is really No monster any here.
As the saying goes,”Monsters only exist in the minds of the ones who fears”
Thank you and be calm,
Oro Invictus
@Huang
No, you’re right, communism isn’t dead. It never has existed. Neither has socialism nor true democracy; considering the PRC socialist is quite frankly, as someone who considers a socialist system ideal (albeit, not necessarily practical nor possible at the present time due to basic neural precepts), about as offensive as writing off the tens of millions of lives snuffed out during the “Great Leap Forward” as fabrications, denying that most of the US’ founding fathers were just enterprising smugglers, or calling either side “just” during the crusades. The PRC is, in fact, the most capitalist nation on Earth by far, allowing the nepotist and plutocratic inequalities of capitalism run to its fullest extent; try as many might to compare other national governments as corporations, few can so closely fit that mold as the PRC.
I also love how, in the modern age, we try and exploit the ambiguities of socioeconomic systems to “alter” the definitions of certain philosophies; Socialism with Chinese Characteristics? American Democracy? Canadian Social Parliament? Indian Unity? All of them are just different forms of nepotist plutocracies, whose only variance is the degree to which the people have any semblance of self determination. When one seeks to change the definitions of a philosophical system to suit their own end, it always ends up being naught but a euphemism for exerting unjust control over others.
John Chan
@Oro Invictus:
Other than some misleading points otherwise your comment is a very sensible and objective.
Tens of millions of lives snuffed out during the “Great Leap Forward” is a fabrication, most objective estimate was in hundreds of thousands due to crop failure resulting from Mao’s reckless adventurism and natural disasters.
US’ founding fathers were irresponsible Americans (Colonists) in the eyes of British Monarch during that time, because they negated their royal subjects’ duty to pay taxes to finance the fun of British Royal family’s pastime game, wars.
Since you understand it all, do you agree it is rather silly for the westerners calling China pot black? Particular when they do it behind the mask of democracy, human rights and other moral high ground. The way the westerners perform such Noh like acts is awkward and funny in the eyes of Chinese (please note, I didn’t use the word hypocrisy).
Oro Invictus
@John Chan
John Chan, while I appreciate that you seemed to at least have taken a more calm approach (at least, in this instance), we both know that your rhetoric remains unchanged and we both know (at least, I sincerely hope) that what you are pushing just as many lies and half-truths as the ultra-patriotic Americans you deride. What’s more, are you saying that just because I or any other was born and raised in a certain geographical region, that such an upbringing irrevocably condemns me to a certain pattern of thought? The beauty of the human mind is, no matter how powerful or how deeply entrenched a certain pattern is ingrained into out pathos, it can be altered and changed. To imply otherwise is to decrease the value of human life; likewise, there is nary a non-extremist estimate which would put the number of deaths from the “Great Leap Forward” an anything less than a couple of tens of millions (most estimates being much higher), so to say those deaths did not happen when all evidence indicates they did is to deny these people the dignity of having been alive.
John Chan, I am not a fan of any government, I only deal in what is best for humanity; were it possible at this time without perpetual chaos, I would openly advocate the dissolution of governments, for any institution that would raise any man above others is inherently antithetical to human progress. However, since that is not an option yet (i.e. “Paradise does not precede those who will inhabit it”), my outlook on the various international situation is simply a case of determining which governments provide the greatest stability and prosperity (note that prosperity does not mean simple material wealth) while taking away the least amount of freedoms and rights (a simple cost/reward ratio, if you will). There is no hypocrisy in my actions, I take pride in the fact I have never advocated something I did not believe or engage in myself; likewise, to say that the sins of my ancestors somehow taints me, disparages my character, is like saying the colour of my skin or the language that I speak determines my value as a person.
Indeed, have you ever heard me exalt or undeservedly praise any “Western” institution? No. I do indeed cast far more criticism in these comments on the PRC than most others, but only because the PRC takes far too much from China and the rest of the world than it gives back; if that changes, my direction of criticism will change accordingly, but history and human psychology teaches us that autocracies like the PRC tend to remain at the very furthest end of that aforementioned ratio. This is why your arguments are so particularly hollow for me, because you seek to dispute on the grounds of money and power, but I simply offer opinion and insight on the value of human life.
Granted, this raises the question as to why I even respond to you, given you are either a nationalist or a mouth-piece or (more likely) some combination of the two. The answer is really quite simple: While I have no respect for the persona you utilize, I still have the utmost respect for you as a person, as I do with any other, and thus I believe it proper to offer some response rather than brush off your obtuse words. I am no diplomat, I am a poor orator and unskilled in such matters of interpersonal communication; indeed, I spend all days do such things as running protein folding simulations and considering the impact of the Quantum Size Effect upon various proposed nanomedical systems, I am much less skilled with communicating with others apart from writing stories and poetry (which, apart from association skills in regards to diction, do not serve one well in the field of diplomacy). However, I have extensively studied history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, theology, enough schools of academia to know that there is value in even words left unheard. It is really the only reason I comment here despite the knowledge it will almost certainly impact others in any meaningful way, it is because the nature of humanity is to give voice to their ideas, to serve as thoughts in the greater mind that is mankind. And as long as the PRC, the US, or any other group seeks to silence and lobotomize that part of our collective mind I will seek to provide a dissenting voice, to act alongside those who serve as humanity’s conscience.
nirvana
@Huang,
(About Deng’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics)
Does a nation deserve the label Socialist when it has 1/7th of Taiwan GDP per capita AND an income inequality index (that is the gap between the majority poor and the minority rich) already exceeding that of the USA?
It is time you remove this “Socialist” slogan. It is time that you face the ugly truth: you have been served wrong facts all the time, not only in the first 30 years of the New China, but after Deng xiaoping era too. I believe that nobody in China would give a damn if you bin “socialism”, except the few that want to hang onto their privilege of writing the glorious history of their tribe.
Huang
The per capita income of China will remain to be less when compare with other nations,any nation and that is a fact which will not be changed in the forseeable future. I also believe that even IF or WHEN the Chinese gross domestic product reach a level equivalenct to fve times that of the US’s,China’s per-capita-income would still be less in comparison.
Income im-balances are parts of the over-all economy and that include ALL. Im-balances exist even during man’s primative time where a stong and skillful humter often is well fed,he gets the most female,and he even gets to be a chief. hence,”Asked not why he always get the meat but ask yourself why you choose to sleep and not go hunting”.
Back to China again,I am sure the Chinese leadership are more aware than anyone else the effects and subsequent turbulances(social)resulting from un-away income gaps. That is why the Chinese dealership always pay utmost attention to signs and/or likely causes before they evolve from a breeze into a destructive tornado.
Thats when things turn ugly and ALL will suffer under the same in-discriminate social storm called revolution,or one similar to the Arab Spring we all witness today.
nirvana
corrigendum:
China GDP per capita (PPP) in 2010 is approximately 1/5 of Taiwan’s. The ratio was approximately the same in 2000. There is significantly less household income inequality in Taiwan than in ths USA and more income inequality in China than in USA.
nirvana
@Huang,
You seem to miss my point. You emphasized the term “SOCIALISM” in your slogans while every economic indicators seem to show that the income imbalance in China is increasing and now is GREATER than other countries (Taiwan, USA) which do not advertise so much their inclination to build socialism. Does China considers itself a model of a Socialist-building success?
John Chan
@nirvana:
Why does China call herself a state of socialism bothering you? Is it because China at least tries to move its poor out of poverty, meanwhile your government is doing nothing of the sort? So please do not smear China while its socialist building is still work-in-progress. You can ask your government to follow China’s steps to improve the living standard of its people, but just watch out the mistakes China made.
Huang
I would be the first to criticize China if the nation place it foot in the wrong direction by claiming that Socialism is the best there is as frequently asserted by most Western governments in their criticisms against other political idealogy. Socialism as interpreted and applied or put to good use is NOT the best nor the worst approach yet shown to be the most promising form of governance for China’s complex and different conditions(again,not neccessary for any others).
The income disparities between the rich and poor,the coastal and inland regions,and between city and rural areas are known facts. Thats why the issue was discussed and studied by the Chinese leadership since 2008 when the global financial crisis jolted every governments around the World(many eyes were opened,some were shocked and in dis-believe,a few still don’t know what to do,and still others working hard to cope and deal with this gigantic economic shock-wave sweeping indiscriminately and recognizing no boundaries).
Efforts were made to deal with inflations,housing prices,and the declining export volumes by raising interest rates,tightening of loans on second homes purchases,promoting and encouraging domestic consumptions.
In short,I believe China and most Chinese people do not place much importance on the comparisons with another country be it income dis-parity or national GDP with nay another because China is not racing against any nation to be NUMBER.
China knows very clearly that its got a long long way to go even to reach a level modestly satisfactory to the nation and the people(not just Hans,but all included).
Finally,Socialism-Democracy,Communism-Capitalism are all terms or to be precise brands and names. The the essence is the manners and means in which any of these idealogical attributes were implemented to produce the most results at the least amount of costs(social stability,economic viability,and MOST importantly how happy are the people living under any of these forms of governments).
John Chan
In China, wealth transfer from the have areas to have-not areas as matter of fact and duty, no one make a big fuss about it. When the natural disasters come, the have areas all pitch in to rebuild the disaster areas free of charge. It sounds like socialism to me.
Yet there are disasters in Europe, none of the EU members want to pitch in without charging arm and leg interest for the half hearted funds they provided. It seems Europeans are heartless and no compassion for their own kind, they only care nickels and dines. Yet they claimed they are civilized, democratic and caring human rights.
Comparing the above two contrast facts, I just wonder what’s good of democracy and western civilization; they put money in front of humanity.
ozivan
@Borg. Thank you for being kind by “guessing” the number exterminated were 60 million.
@ChrisH in Diplomat’s Debating Missile quoted 100 million. And @jeff forsythe in this blog decided to fix a figure of 78 million and, later decided it will help improve his argument if he increase it to 80 million. (..in one day, as John Chan commented)
Elsewhere other anti-China bloggers were even kinder by stating the number at 40 million exterminated.
Do you want to revise your guess ?
If you increase it to more than 100 million, you will trump ChrisH as the new record holder. Less than 40 million, you might get skinned by your pro-West friends.
yang zi
“there have been at least 58 defendants charged in federal court for China-related espionage since 2008. Most have been convicted”
I read some of the press report on these, they are all borderline cases and are wrongly convicted in my view. a U.S. company employee goes back to China and talked about related subject in the open meeting and publication, got convicted for spying. at most you can say he leaked company secrets, but these “secrets” are his achievements, not others, his work may belong to the company, but his knowledge is not.
anyway, no wonder these cases are not causing a stir, because most Americans are just and fair minded. If a Chinese scientist found out A=B, why can’t he talk about it? especially the company didn’t restricted it explicitly.
At least China should hire good lawyers for them. this may cause a real stir, but CCP should defend its nationals.
John Chan
@yang zi:
Although I don’t know the consequence of your suggestion by helping the wrongfully prosecuted to defend themselves with China’s resource, but I definitely with your sentiment.
nirvana
A sensational title with a boring rhetoric.
The author could have spiced up his article with some reference to Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American”, or he could give some insight to the case of Qian Xuesen. But what do we learn here? That, “Like the intelligence services of most large and powerful countries”, the intelligence services of China are learning fast. And that is the vexation?
Oro Invictus
All nations engage in varying degrees of espionage, of course, there is nothing new there; unfortunately, the current strategies employed by the PRC threaten the “status quo” and risk inflaming and antagonizing other members of the international community (though, I suspect the US has an even more pervasive espionage apparatus, albeit one this is far better concealed [and thus "acceptable" in the eyes of the international community] and far more concerned with analysis and incorporation than adaptation of technologies [thus not stymieing domestic innovation]). Indeed, I am not worried so much about the PRC’s gains from this, as such moves will only turn it into a global pariah and hobble its innovative capabilities; though, the question then would be if such ostracizing would destroy the domestic credibility of the party and usher in political reforms (in which some good could come of these policies) or cause the PRC to clamp down on the people of China and (further) become a larger version of North Korea (unlikely, due to the size and international connections, though it is still a possibility).
No, the big issue here is how the government responses across the world will no doubt bring into effect draconian and invasive “public security and monitoring”, which will no doubt negatively impact civil liberties across the globe and lead to an increase in paranoia and internecine conflict. Domestic control institutions, along with modern governments and capitalistic economic systems (to name a few), are an evil of current human society (albeit, for the time being, a necessary one), a vicious dog which is used to ward off the chaos of our own instinctual aggression. It is a simple problem of that if you give it too short a chain it cannot do its job; too long, and it may turn its attention away from the gates and towards those it once protected, now just another entity in reach of its jaws. An oft quoted aphorism by Nietzsche is “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster”, but what does one do when all the participants are already monsters?
Jeoy
Gotta be kidding me, as such a corrupted and disabled community could be equipped with such tech. and ambitiousness. It’s already a bless for them to survive for next 10 years.
John Chan
@Jeoy:
Indeed Alex Newman is pulling wool over readers’ head. As you said, CCP could not be equipped with such tech. and ambitiousness, therefore the article is pure fabrication and a straight face lie.
yang tsup
i remember someone here said that china are harmless nation, but now it seems that china already harm many nations by spying..
yang zi
I generally view these kind of talk are hysterical and from fear. but more power to each countries’ anti spying activities. FBI has extensive power to collect information, people should talk with evidence, not with fear.