US indicts five members of Chinese spy ring, handler remains at large
March 17, 2022 1 Comment
AUTHORITIES IN THE UNITED States have indicted five members of an alleged spy ring for the Chinese Ministry for State Security (MSS), who engaged in sabotage, bribing, harassment, intimidation and entrapment operations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleges [PDF] that the five men, Qiming Lin, 59, Shujun Wang, 73, Quiang ‘Jason’ Sun, 40, Matthew Ziburis, 49, and Fan ‘Frank’ Liu, 62, operated at the behest of the government of China, conducting several operations on US soil, with an “unlimited budget”.
Lin, Wang, Liu and Ziburis have been arrested. They each face between 10 and 20 years in prison, if convicted. Sun, who is the alleged handler of the spy ring, remains at large. The FBI claims Sun is an MSS officer and is currently in China. The FBI alleges that the five men were tasked with destroying the personal lives and careers of Chinese dissidents living in the United States. Their victims included a Chinese-born American citizen, who is running for Congress. The dissident is not identified in the FBI indictment. However, according to the Business Insider, he is believed to be Yan Xiong, a Long Island resident who escaped to the US after participating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations.
Members of the Chinese spy ring allegedly tried to thwart Yan’s Congressional election campaign. Specifically, they are accused of conspiring to extort Yan, by luring him in a ‘honey trap’ operation involving prostitutes. They also conspired to plant child pornography in Yan’s personal computer, and even using physical beatings and intimidation in order to subvert his political career. The spy ring is also believed to have targeted Weiming Chen, a Chinese-born, California-based artist, who has produced sculptures and other artwork critical of the Chinese government.
In most cases, members of the spy ring tried to acquire personal data belonging to their victims, including their US social security numbers, as well as copies of their passports. In several cases, members of the spy ring installed covert surveillance equipment in the cars, residences and work places of their targets. These allowed them to monitor their victims’ personal lives and whereabouts. In announcing the indictments on Wednesday, US Department of Justice representatives said efforts by Chinese spies to intimidate and silence expatriate dissidents living in the US had risen at an “alarming rate” in the past year.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 17 March 2022 | Permalink
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT HAS asked China to supply it with military hardware, as well as diplomatic and financial support, which would allow it to weather Western-imposed sanctions against it, according to Western officials. In what bears the marks of a controlled leak by the White House, several American and British news outlets reported late last night that Moscow had approached Beijing with a request for support across many levels, as the war in Ukraine continues to escalate.
LAST WEEK, THE DUTCH General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) launched an awareness campaign dubbed ‘Check before connecting’. The purpose of the campaign is to inform the Dutch public about risks of foreign actors using fake accounts on social media, in efforts to acquire sensitive business information. According to the AIVD, such online campaigns frequently target and recruit employees of Dutch private sector companies. The 
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE Chinese province of Jiangsu have publicly rewarded two fishing crews for finding and turning in to security authorities a number of “suspicious” underwater devices. In a leading article on its website, China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that other fishing crews should come forward upon finding similar devices, to prove their patriotism and claim financial rewards from the state.
POLICE STATIONS IN CHINA are reportedly experimenting with a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to detect the emotions of subjects, and even monitors their skin pores, according to a source who spoke to the BBC. The source is a software engineer, whose identity has not been disclosed by the BBC. He said he helped install the controversial technology in a number of police stations in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.
A LEADING CHINESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS firm has strongly denied a claim by a newspaper that its service personnel could listen in on calls made by Dutch telephone users, including senior government officials. The report dates from 2010 and was authored by consultancy firm Capgemini on behalf of KPN, one of Holland’s largest telecommunications service providers. The Rotterdam-based firm had hired Capgemini to conduct a risk analysis on whether more equipment should be purchased from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. By that time the Chinese company, one of the world’s largest in its field, was already supplying KPN with hardware and software equipment.
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Leaked plan for China-Solomon Islands security alliance raises concerns in the Pacific
April 11, 2022 by Joseph Fitsanakis 2 Comments
The Solomon Islands is an archipelago consisting of six major and nearly 1,000 smaller islands in an area northwest of Vanuatu and east of Papua New Guinea. It gained its independence from Britain in the mid-1970s. Australia has historically provided security for this island nation of 700,000 inhabitants, which has no standing military. However, China has become a dominant player in Solomon Islands politics in recent years. In 2019, the government of the island nation abruptly withdrew its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and aligned itself with Beijing.
The move sparked concerns in Malaita, the Solomon Islands’ largest island, which is home to a sizeable Chinese community. There were demonstrations against Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (pictured) in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. Eventually, the demonstrators attempted to storm the Parliament and depose Sogavare’s administration. There were also attacks on Chinese-owned businesses in Honiara, as well as on a number of police stations, which were set on fire. Eventually, Australian, New Zealander, Papuan and Fijian troops restored order in Honiara.
Tensions have risen again in recent weeks, however, after Sogavare’s government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China. The memorandum centers on law enforcement and military cooperation, involving training programs and joint exercises between the two nations. The Solomon Islands government described the MOU as “necessary” to allow it to quell “recurring internal violence” in Honiara and elsewhere. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the MOU as an agreement that “aims to maintain the safety of people’s lives and property”. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, News, Solomon Islands