Chinese espionage operations in United States at all-time high, claims report

A recent report suggests that Chinese espionage operations in the United States are at an all-time high, with the country recently extraditing a high-ranking Chinese spy from Europe in November. Yanjun Xu, Deputy Director of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), was primarily responsible for external intelligence. It is the first time that a high-ranking official has been extradited to the United States for trial, ANI reported citing The HK post. The fact that the FBI opens a new counterintelligence case into China every 12 hours demonstrates how severe Chinese espionage activities in the US is, the report added. 

Earlier on November 5, the US Federal Court ruled that Xu is a Chinese citizen and the Deputy Division Director of the Ministry of State Security's Sixth Bureau in Jiangsu Province. "This conviction of a card-carrying intelligence officer for economic espionage underscores that trade secret theft is integral to the PRC government's plans to modernise its industries," Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division stated while announcing the conviction. According to the report, the Yanjun Xu case is groundbreaking because it could lead to more Chinese espionage activity targeting the United States.

According to the US think tank CSIS survey, there have been 160 publicly reported instances of Chinese espionage directed towards the United States since 2000. The survey claimed that the Chinese military or government employees were responsible for 42% of the cases. It was found that 24% of the 160 cases occurred between 2000 and 2009, while 76% of them occurred between 2010 and 2021, The HK Post reported. 

US witnessed 1,300% surge in economic espionage investigations in last 5 years: FBI

FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed earlier this year that the US government has seen a 1,300% surge in economic espionage investigations over the last five years. "I don't think there is any country that poses a greater danger to our innovation, economic security, and democratic values than China," Wray was quoted by The HK post as saying. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it has thwarted the espionage efforts of a Chinese hacker gang with the seizure of 42 websites that reportedly gathered intelligence from foreign ministries, think tanks, and human rights organisations in 29 countries, including the United States.

(With ANI inputs)

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