Tradecraft observations on the Reichenbach/Fischer espionage case

May 3, 2024 by 3 Comments

Germany ReichstagSEVERAL CASES OF CHINESE espionage have been announced recently in Europe. Thomas Reichenbach and Herwig and Ina Fischer —a married couple— were arrested on April 22, 2024, for illegal exports of dual use technology with military (naval) applications.

Reichenbach lists himself as a contract marketing manager for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. He studied at Peking University in the mid-1980s. He worked in China, speaks Mandarin, and has a Chinese wife.

Herwig and Ina Fischer own a small engineering consulting company named Innovative Dragon in Duesseldorf. Both have travelled extensively in China. Innovative Dragon contracts for technical research with universities. Herwig studied mechanical engineering and aircraft and spacecraft construction at the Rhine-Westphalia Higher Technical School, focusing on guidance technology and composite fiber materials. The company headquarters are in London and there are offices in Duesseldorf and Shanghai (Donghua University Science and Technology Park). The London office does not appear to have a functioning telephone number.

Reichenbach is suspected of having been recruited by the Ministry of State Security (MSS) in China. The German government has accused the trio of having illegally exported dual use technology since at least 2022. At the time of the arrests, the suspects were in negotiations on additional research projects useful for expanding the combat strength of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Status: Alleged

Tradecraft observations:

  1. Use of a potential front company in London to facilitate allegedly illegal exports.
  2. Use of third countries to facilitate allegedly illegal exports.
  3. Reichenbach allegedly recruited Herwig and Ina Fischer and handled them as in-country assets.
  4. It is alleged that the MSS probably recruited Reichenbach in China.
  5. An MSS officer allegedly handled Reichenbach from China (linear control).
  6. The MSS allegedly funded the operation through front companies.

► Author: Nicholas Eftimiades* | Date: 03 May 2024 | Permalink

* Nicholas Eftimiades is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He retired from a 34-year government career that included employment in the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He held appointments on the Department of Defense’s Defense Science Board and the Economic Security Subcommittee of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. He is an advisor to the United States Intelligence Community. Eftimiades authored numerous works on China’s espionage methods. His books, Chinese Intelligence Operations (1994) and Chinese Espionage: Operations and Tactics (2020) are examinations of the structure, operations, and methodology of China’s intelligence services. They are widely regarded as seminal works in the field.

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Germany arrests sixth alleged spy in less than a month

April 29, 2024 by 1 Comment

MSS ChinaAUTHORITIES IN GERMANY HAVE arrested a sixth person in less than a month, in connection with three separate cases of espionage orchestrated by Russian or Chinese intelligence. Last Tuesday, police in the east German city of Dresden arrested an assistant to a leading politician of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD). The assistant, who is a dual German-Chinese citizen, is accused of spying for Chinese intelligence, while the far-right politician who employed him is also being investigated, according to reports.

German news reports have identified the alleged spy as Jian Guo, 43, who lives in Dresden with his wife and children. Guo reportedly entered Germany as a student and stayed there after completing his studies, eventually becoming a naturalized German citizen. In 2019 he joined the staff of the office of Maximilian Krah, a senior AfD politician, who had recently been elected to the European Parliament.

According to the German prosecutor’s office, Guo had begun working for Chinese intelligence prior to joining Krah’s office as an assistant. At least some of his alleged espionage activities involved posing as a critic of the Chinese government and joining dissident groups of Chinese expatriates in Germany. He would then provide information about the activities of these groups to Chinese intelligence, according to his indictment. The latter described Guo’s intelligence activity as “an especially severe case” of espionage.

Meanwhile, German authorities are also reportedly investigating Krah himself over payments he allegedly received from pro-Chinese and pro-Russian individuals or groups. In a statement issued late last week, the AfD politician said he had been informed about Guo’s arrest from media reports and that he had no information about this case. Shortly after Krah’s statement, the AfD described Guo’s arrest as “highly disturbing” and added that party authorities would do “everything possible to aid the investigation”.

During the month of April alone, Germany has arrested no fewer than six individuals in a series of apparently unconnected cases of espionage, connected with Russia or China. Two of these individuals are German citizens of Russian origin, who were allegedly assisting Russian intelligence plan acts of sabotage against military installations located on German soil. Three other German citizens were allegedly planning to provide designs of advanced aircraft engines to Chinese intelligence officials.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 29 April 2024 | Permalink

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Veteran Belgian politician was a spy for Chinese intelligence, report alleges

December 18, 2023 by 4 Comments

MSS ChinaA LONGTIME BELGIAN POLITICIAN worked as a spy for Chinese intelligence for at least three years, according to a joint investigation by a consortium of European news media. Until last week, the politician, Frank Creyelman, 62, was a leading member of Vlaams Belang, a far-right separatist party that draws nearly the entirety of its support from northern Belgium’s Dutch-speaking Flemish regions. In addition to seeking to separate Flanders from Belgium, Vlaams Belang opposes immigration and multiculturalism, with much of its criticism directed at Islam.

From 1995 until 2014, Creyelman served as a member of the Flemish Parliament or the Belgian Senate, representing the Antwerp Province. During that time, he became known for his pro-Russian views, which he continued to propagate in retirement. In 2021, he voiced strong skepticism against the Belgian government’s efforts to provide diplomatic, financial, and military support to Ukraine. Following his retirement from frontline politics, Creyelman became an honorary member of the Flemish Parliament. He also remained chairman of Vlaams Belang in his home city of Mechelen, a Dutch-speaking stronghold.

Last week, however, a joint investigation by the British newspaper The Financial Times, French newspaper Le Monde and German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, claimed that Creyelman worked as a spy for China for at least three years. Citing unnamed “intelligence officials from four Western countries”, the investigation claimed that Creyelman had been recruited by Daniel Woo, a case officer for China’s Ministry of State Security. Woo is believed to work out of the MSS branch in China’s far-eastern province of Zhejiang, though he has also served tours in Europe under diplomatic cover, including in Romania and Poland.

It is not known how the MSS recruited Creyelman. It appears that most of his communication with his alleged MSS handler took place via text messages. However, it is claimed that in 2019 Creyelman traveled to Sanya, a popular tourist resort in China’s Hainan Island, where he allegedly met Woo and possibly other MSS operatives. Notably, the journalists behind the investigation into Creyelman claim that they have accessed incriminating messages exchanged between Creyelman and Woo. The text messages span the period between early 2019 and late 2022.

In the text messages, Woo asks Creyelman to try to influence senior-level discussions in Belgium and elsewhere concerning China’s treatment of its ethnic Muslim populations in the Xinjiang Province. The far-right politician was also instructed to find ways to vilify and discredit European researchers and academics who were documenting China’s treatment of ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang. Woo also asked Creyelman to try to quell criticism of China’s crackdown of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. In one message, Woo explained that China’s purpose was “to divide the US-European relationship”.

Last Friday, just hours after the allegations about Creyelman’s alleged espionage emerged, Vlaams Belang announced that it had expelled him from its ranks. In a social media post, the party’s leader, Tom Van Grieken, denounced Creyelman’s espionage as going “against the purpose and essence, even the name, of our party”. He added: “The only loyalty for nationalists can only be to their own nation”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 December 2023 | Permalink

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China accuses ‘foreign governments’ of installing fake weather stations to collect data

November 6, 2023 by 4 Comments

Chinese Ministry of State SecurityBEIJING HAS ACCUSED “FOREIGN governments” of collecting data on China through hundreds of fake meteorological stations that have been illegally installed throughout Chinese territory. The announcement appears to form part of a broader “people’s anti-espionage war” that the Communist Party of China launched in 2015 in order to create a “positive atmosphere of national security” across the nation.

On Tuesday of last week, China’s civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), shared information about the alleged fake meteorological stations on its WeChat social media account. The agency said it had discovered hundreds of fake stations in over 20 Chinese provinces. The discovery resulted from an investigation of 10 firms that specialize in installing meteorological stations, which was broadened to include a probe of over 3,000 “foreign-linked” meteorological stations across China.

The MSS claims that some of the foreign companies involved in installing meteorological stations had not obtained the required administrative licenses. Furthermore, some of the stations had been placed in the vicinity of food-production hubs or defense-related installations, allegedly in order to record geolocational data. The latter were transmitted abroad in real time, the MSS said.

According to the spy agency, some of the fake meteorological stations were “directly funded by foreign governments”. However, there was no mention in the statement of the specific governments that allegedly funded these stations. Instead, the statement noted that “the illegal collection and cross-border transmission of meteorological data endangers China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests”.

It is rare for the reclusive and secrecy-prone MSS to make any public announcements relating to counter-espionage. In the past year, however, it has announced the arrests of several Chinese officials who allegedly spied on China for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. There is no information about whether the alleged fake meteorological stations are connected to prior arrests of Chinese officials for espionage.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 06 November 2023 | Permalink

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Two arrested in Britain for spying for China, report reveals

September 11, 2023 by 2 Comments

House of Commons Parliament Britain United KingdomAUTHORITIES IN BRITAIN HAVE arrested two individuals on charges of espionage, among them a researcher for the British parliament who is being investigated for spying for China. According to the British newspaper The Sunday Times, the two individuals were arrested on March 13 of this year in two different addresses. One of the suspects, reportedly in their 30s, was arrested in or around the city of Oxford. The other, reportedly an individual in their mid-20s, was apprehended in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

A third address, located in an eastern borough or London, was also searched by the Counter-Terrorism Command of the Metropolitan Police, which is leading the investigation into the two suspects. Notably, the parliamentary researcher had worked for prominent members of the Conservative Party, including members of parliament. These reportedly included Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the British House of Commons. The Times reported that the suspect had also worked for the Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat. The Guardian newspaper reported that Tugendhat said he had not been in touch with the suspect since he assumed his current ministerial role in September of 2022. Kearns did not comment on the case.

The last time a British newspaper reported claims of Chinese espionage was in February of 2021, when The Telegraph reported on the expulsion of three Chinese citizens, who were working as journalists. The paper claimed that the three had been “quietly expelled” after they were caught carrying out espionage. Citing an anonymous “government source”, The Telegraph said that, according to Britain’s Security Service (MI5), the three Chinese journalists were in reality employees of China’s Ministry of State Security. The report did not provide details about when the three Chinese citizens had been expelled, saying only that the expulsions had occurred at different times in the previous year.

According to The Times, the two suspects who were arrested in last March were initially transferred to a south London police station, where they were arraigned. They were then released on bail and are expected to appear in court in October.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 11 September 2023 | Permalink

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Leading German university suspends Chinese state-funded researchers

August 31, 2023 by 1 Comment

FAU UniversityONE OF GERMANY’S LEADING universities has suspended researchers funded by the Chinese government, citing concerns about academic freedom and industrial espionage. The Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) announced the suspension of Chinese government-funded researchers in June of this year. In announcing the measure, the university stated that the move was designed to protect academic freedom and freedom of expression among its faculty and staff. Earlier this week, however, German media reported the contents of an internal FAU email, which expressed concerns that the Chinese state could be utilizing government-funded researches as spies.

Founded in Bavaria in 1743, FAU is among Germany’s leading universities. On June 1, it became the first university in Germany to suspend researchers funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). The CSC is an outreach unit of the Chinese Ministry of Education, which funds the work of Chinese researchers in foreign universities, while also providing scholarships to foreign citizens who apply to study in China. In January 2023, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported that, in order to become recipients of CSC scholarships, Chinese citizens were required to pledge “support [to] the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party […] and to have a correct world view, outlook on life, and values system”.

On June 1, the FAU leadership announced that the CSC funding methods conflicted with Germany’s Basic Law (the country’s Constitution). Furthermore, according to the FAU leadership, the CSC funding methods violated the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression for its faculty, as practiced in Germany. On Saturday it was reported that, according to an internal FAU email, university officials also expressed concerns that the Chinese state could use CSC researchers to spy on FAU scientific and industrial research, and to compromise FAU’s data security and intellectual property practices.

FAU’s decision was reportedly met with support by Germany’s Minister for Education, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, who said that German universities and research establishments have “a responsibility to safeguard themselves against espionage activities conduced by students receiving scholarships from the Chinese government”. It is also reported that other universities in Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe are considering following FAU in suspending CSC-funded Chinese researchers.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 31 August 2023 | Permalink

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Chinese government arrests second alleged CIA spy in 10 days

August 23, 2023 by Leave a comment

Chinese Ministry of State SecurityFOR THE SECOND TIME in 10 days, the government of China has announced the arrest of a Chinese government employee on suspicion of spying for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In a statement issued on Monday, China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), said it had launched an investigation into an official of a government ministry, who was allegedly caught conducting espionage on behalf of the CIA.

The MSS statement did not name the government ministry where the alleged spy works. But it identified the accused by his surname, Hao, describing him as a 39-year-old Chinese national. According to the MSS statement, Hao spent a number of years as a graduate student in Japan. While he was studying in Japan, he allegedly visited the United States embassy in Tokyo, in order to apply for a travel visa. During his visit to the embassy, he met a United States embassy official, who befriended him.

Over time, Hao allegedly formed a close relationship with the unnamed American embassy official. The latter treated him to meals, sent him gifts in the mail, and secured funds for him to conduct research. Eventually, the embassy official introduced Hao to another American official, who, according to the MSS, was a CIA case officer. The CIA case officer allegedly recruited Hao to spy for the United States and instructed him to seek employment at “a core and critical department” of the government upon his return to China.

After completing his studies in Japan, Hao returned to China and secured employment in a government agency. He continued to meet regularly with his alleged CIA handler and other CIA officers, who to whom he “provided intelligence” in return for “espionage funds”, according to the MSS statement. The statement said that Hao’s case remains under investigation and that no official charges have yet been filed.

The MSS statement about Hao’s case came exactly 10 days after the spy agency posted on its WeChat social media account that it had caught another government official spying for the CIA. On August 11, the MSS said it had detained an alleged CIA spy named Zeng, whom it described as a 52-year-old “staff member of a Chinese military industrial group and an important confidential employee” of the Chinese state. Zeng had reportedly been sent to Italy by his employer, presumably in order to pursue graduate studies or receive technical training. While in there, he was allegedly accosted and eventually recruited by an employee of the United States embassy in Rome.

It is not known if the two cases are in any way connected. Government officials in Washington and at the United States embassy in Beijing have not commented on the story.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 23 August 2023 | Permalink

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Eighth person detained in sprawling Taiwanese probe of Chinese spy ring

August 21, 2023 by 1 Comment

Kaohsiung High Court, TaiwanA SEVENTH PERSON HAS been detained in Taiwan as a result of a broadening investigation into a Chinese spy ring that allegedly provided Beijing with sensitive military intelligence. The existence of the investigation was revealed in January of this year, when the Taiwanese authorities announced the arrests of one retired and six active-duty military officers, all of whom were charged with spying for China.

On January 6 of this year, a retired Taiwanese Air Force colonel, identified only by his last name, Liu, was arrested for spying. According to court documents unsealed at the Taiwan High Court branch in Kaohsiung, Liu retired from the Air Force 2013. Soon afterwards, he began business dealings in China. It was during one of his trips to China when Liu was allegedly recruited by the Chinese government. He then carried out espionage operations on behalf of Beijing for approximately eight years.

Throughout his espionage activities, Liu allegedly used his military contacts to recruit six active-duty Taiwanese Air Force and Navy officers to carry out espionage, in return for monetary payments. The six active-duty military officers were arrested along with Liu on January 6. In April of this year, all seven individuals were formally charged with spying for China, in violation of Taiwan’s Classified National Security Information Protection Act.

Taiwanese government prosecutors alleged that each member of the spy ring received between NT$200,000 and NT$700,000 (approximately US$6,500-23,000) for agreeing to spy for Beijing. As the principal agent, Liu received individual bonuses of between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000 (US$1,000-3,200) each time he gave his Chinese handlers information gathered by one of the members of the spy ring.

On August 16, the Taiwanese government announced that one more individual, referred to as “a field officer” was detained on suspicion of spying for China. The suspect was identified only by his last name, Cheng. He was reportedly arraigned in the Taiwan High Court branch in Kaohsiung, the same court that last January delivered espionage charges against the other seven suspects involved in the spy ring investigation. All eight suspects have been denied bail. Their trial has not yet been set.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 August 2023 | Permalink

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China arrests government worker who gave CIA ‘core information’ about military

August 14, 2023 by 1 Comment

US embassy Rome ItalyA CHINESE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE gave “core information” about China’s military to the United States, after he was recruited by a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer in Italy, a Chinese state agency has said. The allegation was made in a statement that was issued on Friday by China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), on its WeChat social media account.

The MSS statement did not specify the period during which the alleged espionage took place. But it named the alleged spy as “Zeng” and described him as a 52-year-old “staff member of a Chinese military industrial group and an important confidential employee” of the Chinese state. According to China’s state-owned newspaper The Global Times, Zeng had been sent to Italy by his employer, presumably in order to pursue graduate studies or receive technical training. While in Italy, Zeng was allegedly accosted by an employee of the United States embassy in Rome, which the MSS identified as “Seth”.

According to the MSS, Seth was a CIA case officer, who befriended Zeng through “dinner parties, outings and trips to the opera”. The Chinese man “developed a psychological dependence” on Seth and was “indoctrinated” by him “with Western values”, the MSS statement claims. Seth eventually convinced Zeng to sign an agreement with the CIA to conduct espionage, after which the Chinese man allegedly received intelligence tradecraft training. Upon returning to China from his stay in Italy, Zeng is alleged to have carried out espionage on behalf of his CIA handlers. The MSS claims Zeng gave his CIA handlers “a great amount of core intelligence” during “multiple secret meetings” with them.

The information Zeng is alleged to have provided to the CIA concerned “key developments about China’s military” to which he had access through his employer. In exchange for this information, Zeng is accused of having received “a huge amount of [financial] compensation” by his CIA handlers. The latter also promised him that they would help his family emigrate to the United States, as per the MSS statement. The spy agency said that Zeng remains in detention while the case is under investigation. The MSS statement also warned other Chinese citizens living or traveling abroad of “the risks and perils” of recruitment by Western spy agencies.

The Reuters news agency said it contacted the United States embassy in Beijing about the MSS allegations, but received no response.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 14 August 2023 | Permalink

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China’s intelligence modernization has outpaced military increases: British report

August 9, 2023 by 4 Comments

Chinese Ministry of State SecurityTHE MODERNIZATION OF CHINA’S intelligence community is without parallel in recent history and has even outpaced the funding increases given to the Chinese military, a British government report has concluded. According to the same report, the Chinese government spends more on what it perceives as domestic threats than on external targets involving Western countries and their allies.

The redacted version of the report was issued last month by the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which monitors the activities of the British intelligence community. It concentrates on China’s domestic and global ambitions and discusses the role of the Chinese intelligence services in these pursuits. A theme that permeates the 222-page report is that China’s domestic and international ambitions are interconnected, as Beijing does not distinguish between its key national interests in the domestic and foreign domains. Moreover, the report notes that the Chinese intelligence community plays a central role in both facets.

The report notes that China “almost certainly maintains the largest state intelligence apparatus in the world”, dwarfing those of its Western rivals. The latter are forced to concentrate their counterintelligence work “on those aspects that are most demanding”. The official Chinese intelligence agencies are three, the report notes; they consist of the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Pubic Security —both of which are civilian— as well as the Strategic Support Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The latter provides signals intelligence support, whereas the two civilian agencies carry out a host of intelligence and counterintelligence duties.

Nevertheless, the Chinese state’s “whole-of-government” approach on matters of security means that almost every government agency fulfils some type of intelligence-related role. This makes it difficult to calculate with accuracy the full extent of the Chinese intelligence apparatus, the report notes.

Notably, Chinese intelligence agencies are focused primarily on what the Chinese government perceives as domestic threats to its rule, which Beijing has termed “the five poisons”. According to the report, these consist of: the Taiwanese independence movement; the separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang; the Falun Gong religious movement; and pro-democracy activism inside China. Intelligence collection and other operations that relate to the so-called “five poisons” include intelligence activities that take place abroad and target Chinese expatriate communities.

It is also worth noting that, according to the report, Beijing spends “almost 20% more on domestic security than on external defence”. Moreover, the rise in expenditures for intelligence infrastructure and operations is impressive by any standards of assessment and “has outpaced even China’s recent dramatic military modernization” of recent years, the report notes. The increase in spending “appears to have led to an improvement in capability”, the report concludes.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 09 August 2023 | Permalink

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China sentences US citizen to life for espionage following closed-door trial

May 15, 2023 by 1 Comment

Hong KongA CHINESE COURT HAS sentenced a United States passport holder to life in prison on espionage charges, following a brief closed-door trial. However, no information has been made available about the precise charges against him. Closed-door trials are frequent occurrences in Chinese courts, especially in cases relating to national security, which include charges of espionage against the state. However, life sentences are exceedingly rare for espionage cases.

The individual convicted in this case has been named in media reports as John Shing-Wan Leung, 78. He is reportedly a permanent resident of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, over which Beijing has near-absolute control. It is not known if Leung was a Chinese citizen at any time in his life. China does not recognize joint citizenship and requires its citizens to drop their Chinese citizenship when swearing allegiance to another country. The Reuters news agency reported on Monday that Leung was at some point a member of two American-based Chinese expatriate groups, which it described as “pro-China”. These are the United States-China Friendship Promotion Association and the United States-China Friendship Association.

Leung is believed to have been arrested in Hong Kong in 2021 by local Chinese counterintelligence officers. He has been held in prison ever since his arrest. A press release issued on Monday by the Intermediate People’s Court in Suzhou, a city located in southern Jiangsu province, 700 north of Hong Kong, said Leung had been found “guilty of espionage”. The press release added that Leung had been “sentenced to life imprisonment and deprived of [his] political rights for life”. However, the statement provided no information about Leung’s alleged crimes, or the country he was found to have spied for.

According to the BBC, the United States embassy in Beijing refused to discuss the details of this case, stating only that the United States government was aware of Leung’s conviction. An embassy spokesperson told the BBC that “the Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 15 May 2023 | Permalink

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In rare public comments, Taiwan spy chief points to 2027 as key in China’s plans

May 5, 2023 by 1 Comment

Tsai Ming-yenIN A SERIES OF rare public comments, the director of Taiwan’s primary intelligence agency has singled out 2027 as a year of paramount significance for China’s military plans for Taiwan. On Thursday, Tsai Ming-yen (pictured), director-general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) since February, spoke to an audience of graduating students at Taiwan’s National Chung Hsing University in Taichung City. According to reports, it was the first time in a quarter of a century that an NSB director-general had addressed a university audience.

In addition to his speech at the Chung Hsing University, Director-General Tsai, a former deputy foreign minister and diplomat, gave a rare interview to the United States-based Bloomberg news agency. He refused to weigh in on the ongoing discussion about a timeframe for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. But he singled out the year 2027 as a significant one for Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s plans to modernize the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The Chinese leader first introduced his “PLA Modernization 2035” plan in 2017, describing it as a whole-of-government effort to significantly improve the PLA’s combat capabilities as a step toward achieving China’s long-term goal of becoming a major global military power. Tsai pointed out that the year 2027 will be the 10-year mark into President Xi’s 18-year program of military reforms. Additionally, Xi will most likely be campaigning for a fourth presidential term that year, Tsai said.

In his interview with Bloomberg, Tsai said that President Xi “doesn’t allow any kind of different voice in the Chinese political system”. In essence, therefore, the Chinese leader has been surrounding himself with “a coterie of like-minded officials”. This resulting ‘groupthink’ means that “the risk of making a wrong decision” on pressing issues like Taiwan “will become much higher” in the coming years, he warned. To counter that threat, and to monitor China’s military intentions, Tsai said Taiwan is systematically deepening its real-time cooperation with its “international friends”, especially with the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance, an intelligence-sharing coalition comprising of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

In a separate development, the United States Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Thursday that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC) would be a major cause for concern in a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The United States and other countries rely overwhelmingly on the TSMC’s production output for the use of semiconductors in civilian and military hardware. Should a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan prevent the TSMC from producing those semiconductors, the resulting impact on the global economy would be “enormous”, possibly in the neighborhood of “between $600 billion to $1 trillion on an annual basis for the first few years”, Haines said.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 May 2023 | Permalink

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US arrests two over alleged clandestine Chinese police station in New York City

April 18, 2023 by 2 Comments

Chinese Ministry of State SecurityTHE UNITED STATES HAS arrested two residents of New York City for allegedly conspiring to create and operate a clandestine police station run by the Chinese government in the borough of Manhattan. The arrests come a month after authorities in Canada launched an investigation into allegations that the Chinese government was running at least two clandestine police stations in Montreal and four more in Toronto.

The allegations first surfaced in a 2022 report by Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish-based non-government organization that focuses on the state of human rights in China. The report, titled “110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild”, claimed that China’s Ministry of Public Security, in association with Chinese diplomatic facilities around the world, operated dozens of clandestine police stations in over 50 countries. Their official mission, according to the report, was to service the needs of Chinese citizens living abroad, as well as visitors from China. However, these clandestine police stations were “actively […] engaging in covert and illegal policing operations” targeting Chinese citizens and expatriates, according to Safeguard Defenders.

On Monday, two New York City residents, Chen Jinping, 59, and Lu Jianwang, 61, were arrested and charged with conspiring to operate as unregistered agents of the People’s Republic of China. They were also charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the Department of Justice’s investigation into their activities. United States government prosecutors allege that Chen and Lu were behind the establishment of a clandestine police station in Manhattan. According to the indictment, the Manhattan police station —the first of its kind in the United States— was operated by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). It is reported that the station was shut down by the MSS in late 2022, soon after Chinese officials became aware of an investigation into the activities of the station by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A representative of the United States prosecutor accused the Chinese government of engaging in a “flagrant violation” of American sovereignty with “actions that go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct”. Meanwhile, Chen and Lu appeared before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Monday. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 April 2023 | Permalink

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Canada investigating claims of secret Chinese police stations in Montreal

March 15, 2023 by Leave a comment

Chinese embassy of China in CanadaAUTHORITIES IN CANADA ARE reportedly probing claims that the Chinese government is operating at least two “clandestine police stations” in Montreal, which allegedly monitor the activities of Chinese citizens and Canadians of Chinese origin. The announcement comes less than four months after a similar investigation took place into the alleged existence of four illegal Chinese police stations operating in the Toronto area.

The investigations were sparked by a report issued in 2022 by Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish-based non-government organization that focuses on the state of human rights in China. The report, titled “110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild”, claimed that China’s Ministry of Public Security, in association with Chinese diplomatic facilities, operated dozens of clandestine police stations around the world. Their official mission, according to the report, was to service the needs of Chinese citizens living abroad, as well as visitors from China. At the same time, however, these clandestine police stations were “actively […] engaging in covert and illegal policing operations” against Chinese citizens and expatriates, according to Safeguard Defenders.

Last Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) field office in Quebec said it was “carrying out police actions aimed at detecting and disrupting […] foreign state-backed criminal activities” in the Montreal area. On the same day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during a Parliamentary session that his administration would “take every measure to protect Canadians from unacceptable actions by hostile authoritarian regimes”.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not respond to media requests for comment. Last year, in response to the RCMP’s investigation in Toronto, the embassy had said that the alleged clandestine police stations were service centers run by volunteers and not by Chinese diplomatic or law enforcement staff. It also argued that the mission of these centers were to provide consular services to Chinese citizens in the midst of the disruptions that were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement issued last Friday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning accused Canada of “sensationalizing and hyping the matter [in order to] attack and smear China”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 15 March 2023 | Permalink

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WHO calls on US and China to release intelligence about origins of COVID-19

March 8, 2023 by 2 Comments

World Health OrganisationTHE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION has called on the United States and China to share what they know about the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. The call, made by WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and others, came days after United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said in a television interview that COVID-19 “most likely” originated from a Chinese government laboratory.

Wray made the statement last week in a televised interview with Fox News, in response to a question about the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Wray said that, “for quite some time now”, the FBI has “assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan”, a city in central China. Wuhan hosts the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which includes laboratories that specialize on biosecurity and the study of newly emerging infectious diseases. Wray added that Beijing has “been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work” of the United States in trying to determine the precise origins of the virus.

Late last week, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist and the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said the WHO had contacted the United States’ mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to inquire about the information that informs the FBI’s assessment. On Friday, meanwhile, Dr. Tedros called for “any country [with] information about the origins of the pandemic” to come forward. The WHO Director-General went on to say that “it’s essential for that information to be shared with WHO and the international scientific community”.

The WHO also called on China “to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results” with the global scientific community, “not so as to apportion blame, but to advance our understanding of how this pandemic started, so we can prevent, prepare for and respond to future epidemics and pandemics”. When asked about the WHO’s own investigation into the origins of COVID-19, Dr. Tedros responded that “all hypotheses on the origins of the virus remain on the table”.

In the meantime, China responded angrily to the FBI director’s comments. Beijing has previously dismissed claims that COVID-19 may have emerged as a result of an accident at a Chinese government-funded lab as a disinformation campaign designed to smear its image and reputation around the world. Last week, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reacted angrily to allegations that the government of China is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Mao called on the United States to “look to its own biological laboratories scattered across the world when searching for the virus’s source”.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 08 March 2023 | Permalink

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