In the past decade, Xi Jinping has pushed to enhance China’s intelligence infrastructure by modernizing its technology and improving the coordination between the different national security agencies that make up the country’s apparatus. The progress has been absolutely staggering and western governments are starting to sound the alarm.

China’s core intelligence activities fall under two primary organizations: departments within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Ministry of State Security (MSS).

Founded in 1983, the MMS’s role can be compared to a combination of what the Central Intelligence Office (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) do in the United States. However, its activities are much more secretive – for example, they don’t even have a website.

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The scale of the country’s spying activities is far from normal. Official estimates indicate that over 600,000 people work in this government branch. As a result, China has been able to deploy a vast network of spies across the globe to strengthen its dominance in different fields.

Its spying efforts gained public attention after the 2023 spy balloon incident in the US The device was reportedly collecting environmental and climate data and it may have also been filming different areas of the country.

Corporate Espionage is Critical to China

However, the mission of China’s spying is quite different from that of Western agencies. An official from the FBI indicated that the agencies’ goal is to provide stability to the country’s regime primarily.

This means protecting the Communist Party (CCP) at all costs. In addition, they also focus most of their resources on corporate espionage to gain access to cutting-edge technology to strengthen their economy.

A study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank, indicated that more than half of the espionage incidents in the United States were cybernetic. This emphasizes the country’s growing capabilities to infiltrate critical infrastructure and systems in the digital era.

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In addition, a study from the MI5 in the United Kingdom highlighted China’s continuous efforts to recruit locals to their cause. They reported that over 20,000 people in the country were reportedly targeted by Chinese spies in professional marketplaces like LinkedIn.

Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, describes these as “epic” campaigns that can have serious national security implications as well as economic consequences. While the United States has traditionally held an edge in intelligence gathering, experts agree that China is rapidly closing that gap.

Christopher Johnson, a former CIA China analyst, notes that there’s been an uptick from both sides, but probably more so on the Chinese side, simply because they’ve gotten larger, more influential, and richer. Therefore, they have more resources to devote to these activities than they did in the past.

“Five Eyes” Security Chiefs Met to Discuss the Threat of Chinese Spies

China’s expanding spy network has become a significant source of tension in its relationships with Western nations, particularly the United States. Recent controversies, such as the spy balloon incident and allegations of a Chinese spy facility in Cuba have strained diplomatic efforts to improve the relationship between the two superpowers.

china spy ballon incident of 2023

Western nations are increasingly coordinating their efforts to counter Chinese intelligence activities. The unprecedented public gathering of security chiefs from the “Five Eyes” alliance (US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) in California in 2022 was a deliberate attempt to raise awareness about the threat posed by Chinese espionage.

The growing focus on Chinese intelligence activities has led to diplomatic incidents. For instance, in 2023, China’s ambassador was summoned by the UK Foreign Office after three people were accused of assisting Hong Kong’s intelligence services.

Some countries have started to implement new laws to counter foreign interference and espionage. Australia passed a set of laws aimed at countering political interference in 2018 while the UK passed a new National Security Act in 2023.

“Particularly when you have powers that may not always understand each other as well as they should, that is where my service comes in,” said the head of MI6 about the role of the agency in countering China’s relentless spying campaigns.

The latter gave security agencies new powers to deal with interference by foreign states. However, critics argue that these measures have come late in the day.

Companies Rarely Report Spying Incidents Amid Fears of Retaliation

A significant portion of China’s intelligence efforts is directed at acquiring Western technology.

Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio), distinguishes China’s approach: “I rarely call out countries because when it comes to straight espionage, we do it to them. Commercial espionage is a completely different matter, and that’s why China is getting special treatment on this one.”

The threat of Chinese economic espionage has forced Western companies to reassess their dealings with the country.

However, many businesses have been reluctant to report incidents as they fear that they could endanger their position in China’s markets. Western intelligence officials admit that they were slow to recognize the full extent of the Chinese intelligence threat. Mike Burgess of Asio acknowledges, “I think it’s been going on for a long time and collectively we’ve missed it.”

Misunderstandings Need to be Managed Appropriately to Avoid Dangerous Conflicts

As China continues to invest in its intelligence apparatus and technological capabilities, its spy network will likely become a formidable threat to counter-intelligence officers in the West.

Sir Richard Moore, the head of the UK’s MI6, warns of the potential for misunderstandings that could lead to conflict, particularly over issues like Taiwan or tensions in the South China Sea.

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Intelligence officials stress the importance of maintaining open channels of communication to mitigate the risks of misunderstanding and potential conflict. Sir Richard Moore emphasizes the role of intelligence services in providing the insights needed to navigate these risks.

Western intelligence agencies face unique challenges when collecting intelligence on China. Pervasive surveillance inside China makes traditional human intelligence gathering difficult while the country’s exclusive use of domestic technology rather than Western systems makes it a hard target for signals intelligence agencies like GCHQ and the NSA.

As a result, one Western official concedes: “We really don’t know how the (Chinese) politburo think.”

As tensions rise, finding a way for China and the West to coexist and understand each other will be crucial to avoid dangerous and possibly conflicts.

This will require careful diplomacy, robust intelligence gathering, and a delicate approach to managing competing interests.