Chinese intelligence activity in other countries

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Chinese intelligence agencies are believed to be active outside of the People's Republic of China.

1 Method of operation
2 Objectives
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Method of operation

It is generally believed that Chinese intelligence agencies operate differently from other espionage organizations by employing primarily academics or students who will be in their host country only a short time, rather than spending years cultivating a few high-level sources or double agents. Much information about the Chinese intelligence services come from defectors, whom the PRC accuse of lying to promote an anti-PRC agenda.

One known exception to this rule is the case of Katrina Leung, who is accused of starting an affair with an FBI agent to gain sensitive documents from him. A US judge dismissed all charges against her.

[edit] Objectives

It is believed that Chinese espionage is aimed at commercial secrets and the Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) movement, which is banned in the PRC.

Two diplomats who defected in Australia have claimed that China operates more than 1,000 spies and informants in Australia alone; their mission, they said, is industrial espionage but also disruption of the Falun Gong movement. China accused them of lying so they could stay in Australia. Canadian businessman Joe Wang believes that threatening letters he received after broadcasting programs about alleged human rights abuses in China were from the Chinese consulate; one of the envelopes contained boric acid. In November 2005 the United States arrested four people in Los Angeles on suspicion of being involved in a Chinese spy ring.

Taiwan has put many Chinese people on trial for espionage.

Chinese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee (born in Nantou, Taiwan December 21, 1939) was accused and investigated on the grounds of espionage in 1999. Many accused the U.S. government of racism and have argued that the latest allegations of espionage are motivated at least partly by racism; they point to the history of what they call the fabricated "China threat" theory. An alternate interpretation of this is that the Chinese "Subtle Spying" practice avoids and defends against the United States' prosecution-heavy investigative counterintelligence procedures by introducing large elements of plausible deniability and obfuscating the line between deliberate and unintentional espionage activities.