Most states spy. In principle there’s nothing to stop them. But China’s demand for intelligence on the rest of the world goes far beyond anything western intelligence agencies would typically gather. It encompasses masses of commercial data and intellectual property and has been described by Keith Alexander, a former head of America’s National Security Agency, as ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in history’. As well as collecting data from government websites, parliamentarians, universities, thinktanks and human rights organisations, China also targets diaspora groups and individuals.
Chinese cyber intrusions have targeted British MPs and stolen population-level data from the UK Electoral Commission database. In the US, meanwhile, Congress has just cracked down on the Chinese-owned TikTok, which has admitted that some of its employees had been spying on American journalists.
China’s intelligence agencies used to be circumspect about recruiting foreigners and using honey-traps
Three Germans were arrested on Monday for trying to transfer military information and procuring a special laser that was sent to Beijing without authorisation. On the same day, two British nationals, including a Tory parliamentary aide, were charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act by allegedly passing ‘prejudicial information’ to China.
Xi Jinping talks as if China is at war – on the occasion of ‘National Security Education Day’ this week, he said that every citizen must be vigilant for signs of espionage. ‘Foreign spies are everywhere,’ says a public service broadcast by China’s powerful civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). ‘They can be disguised as anyone.’
The MSS is responsible for domestic security, counterespionage and collecting foreign intelligence. Although formally a state institution rather than part of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), its main job is to guard against threats to the system. A key criterion for employment is a commitment of absolute loyalty to the CCP.
As with many Chinese institutions, the structure at MSS headquarters is replicated at the provincial and municipal levels, and it’s the regional offshoots that do the bulk of foreign intelligence gathering, monitoring states with which they have historical, geographical or commercial links.
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