ANALYSIS โ Thankfully, after years of benign neglect, the West, especially the United States under former President Trump, and Great Britain, began taking the China intelligence threat seriously.
But is it too late?
Inย an essayย for The New York Times,ย Nigel Inkster, a former director of operations and intelligence at Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or โMI6'), explains how:
China has acquired global economic and diplomatic influence, enabling covert operations that extend well beyond traditional intelligence gathering, are growing in scale and threaten to overwhelm Western security agencies.
He notes that, unlike our previous major spy threat, the Soviet Union, the USSR was relatively โisolated and impoverished.โ But with China's successful economy, second only to the U.S., Beijing's reach is vastly greater.
Inkster notes that under Chairman Xi Jinping the Chinese Communist Party has become more dominant in Chinese society, and that โChina can best be described as an intelligence state.โ
What does this mean in real terms?
Well, unlike just three decades ago, when Chinese intelligence was barely visible or capable, Inksterย explains:
China's intelligence agencies are now powerful and well resourced. They are adept at exploiting the vulnerabilities of open societies and growing dependence on China's economy to collect vast volumes of intelligence and data. Much of this takes place in the cyber domain, such as the 2015ย hackย of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in which sensitive data on millions of federal employees was stolen. Chinese intelligence operatives also are present in state-ownedย enterprises, stateย mediaย organizations and embassies and consulates.ย China's consulateย in Houston was closed by the Trump administration in 2020 after it served as a national hub for collecting high-tech intelligence.
This ongoing massive Chinese intelligence effort promptedย U.S. and British domestic intelligence chiefs, F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray and MI5 director general, Ken McCallum, to raise the alarm with an unprecedented joint news conference in July.
Theyย warnedย of a โbreathtakingโ Chinese effort to steal technology and economic intelligence and to influence foreign politics in China's favor.
They added that the Chinese efforts were growing rapidly with the number of MI5 investigations into suspected Chinese activity increasing sevenfold since 2018.
A significant reason the Chinese spy threat is so different from our previous enemies,ย notesย Inkster, is that the โwider China challenge comes from organizations and actors engaged in activities that may not conform to normal concepts of espionage.โ
While communist China has long practiced nontraditional espionage, China's latest Intelligence Law, enacted in 2017, officially requires Chinese citizens anywhere in the world to assist intelligence agencies.
This means that, whether the liberals in the West like it or not, every Chinese national, and even those with citizenship of their host countries but with close family ties to the Chinese mainland, should be considered a potential spy.
As Inkster describes:
Much of this is organized by theย United Front Work Department, a party organization that seeks to co-optย well-placed membersย of Chinese diaspora communities โ and whose scope has beenย expandedย under Mr. Xi. China also endeavors to entice other Western citizens. A textbook case, exposed this year, involved aย British politicianย whose office received substantial funding from an ethnic Chinese lawyer who thereby gained access to the British political establishment. Oneย Chinese approachย is to patiently cultivate relationships with politicians at the city or community level who show potential to rise to even higher office. Another is known asย elite capture, in which influential Western corporate or government figures are offered lucrative sinecures or business opportunities in return for advocating policies that jibe with Chinese interests.
Inkster argues that the U.S. and Britain must pass legislation, such as the UK's soon-to-be enacted national security billย which will broaden the definition of espionage.
This bill would create, as the Home Office put it, โa more challenging operating environmentโ for those acting as agents for foreign powers such as China.
Australia enacted similarย legislationย in 2018 to combat foreign covert political influence after major Chinese subversion operations were uncovered.
Inksterย notesย how this was also being done in the U.S. under Team Trump:
Countering Beijing poses a difficult balancing act, especially in countries with large Chinese diaspora populations. A case in point was the F.B.I.'s program for preventing theft of economic and scientific intelligence from U.S. universities, started by the Trump administration under the China Initiative. The program had aย chilling effectย on ethnic Chinese scientists and engineers who felt they were unjustly victimized. It wasย terminatedย this year.
Whether the accusations against Trump's โChina Initiative' were valid is up for debate. I argue they were grossly and dangerously overblown.
Regardless, Team Biden hasn't replaced it with a different version or done much to continue the fight against Chinese espionage and subversion.
It is time the U.S. again starts taking Chinese intelligence seriously, or we may all soon be โoverwhelmed.'ย ALN
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Ban China's TikTok at Critical US Agencies >>
13 Comments
So Mitch McConnell is a big problem obviously.
As much as I dislike mitch, schumer is far more of a traitor…..
I think you need to add Pelosi to that list. She is the most dangerous enemy this country faces today.
The Chinese need not worry about anything, they have many assets in America, Biden Hunter, Pelosi, Obama, 95% of the democrat law makers and Benedict Mitch McConnell.
…and schumer, all female supremes, etc….
Could overwhelm? Jeebus, our illegitimate prez, veep, both congressional leaders and thousands of business leaders have been compromised for decades!
Not Diane Fiendstein!!!
Ya, Sarcasm can be based in facts!
Biden wonโt do that. The Chinese have too many โsecretsโ with the president and his son.
Y’all are chasing marionettes! Unless their strings are worked, they’re no more threat than a wet tissue. When y’all FINALLY figure out that the REAL threat is NOT human at all, y’all might figure out how to fight the enemy… I’ll not be holding my breath; y’all keep running in circles after this or that puppet, not getting close to the truth! It might be funny to watch, if it wasn’t so serious an issue. We were told, millenia ago WHO the real enemy is; we know his name, his alias, his nature, his ambitions, his hate, yet y’all STILL run after the puppets he so easily manipulates, switching from 1 to the next, every shift in the breezes, failing to see his hands pulling the strings, even after all this time! Lord, have mercy!
Oh, BTW, all y’all’s guns, bombs & such are positively USELESS against the real enemy! So is AI & all that cyber stuff. He operates in an whole different set of dimensions, as does the One Who has the weapons with which to defeat him. Too bad y’all rejected Him resoundingly, back in ’12, at that convention.
SOME of y’all might manage to get back in His good graces if y’all humble yourselves, REPENT all your sins (that means totally turning away from them, as in “go & sin no more”, not just mouthing words, reciting rosaries, & the like), & ask Him to redeem you from your sins. But if the Jews’ count is correct, & they & we have rightly understood His Word, the time for doing maybe down to mere days now….
…could overwhelm?? No, has overwhelmed.
The entire treasonous Quid Pro Joe Xiden administration has betrayed America.
Congress is complicit as well.
NO since Our side is IN ON IT with China day 1
IS JOEBAMA WORKING WITH THEM??????????