Straying off Course

John Delury & Susan Jakes
On the evening of Friday February 3, about one day after news broke that a large balloon from China was surveilling the skies over Montana, ChinaFile’s Susan Jakes spoke with historian John Delury, whose recently published book, Agents of Subversion...

Books

02.05.20

The Scientist and the Spy

Mara Hvistendahl
Penguin Random House: A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the U.S. government for trying to steal trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction.In September 2011, sheriff’s deputies in Iowa encountered three ethnic Chinese men near a field where a farmer was growing corn seed under contract with Monsanto. What began as a simple trespassing inquiry mushroomed into a two-year FBI operation in which investigators bugged the men’s rental cars, used a warrant intended for foreign terrorists and spies, and flew surveillance planes over corn country—all in the name of protecting trade secrets of corporate giants Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer. Hvistendahl gives a gripping account of this unusually far-reaching investigation, which pitted a veteran FBI special agent against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career foundered took a questionable job with the Chinese agricultural company DBN and became a pawn in a global rivalry.Industrial espionage by Chinese companies lies beneath the United States’ recent trade war with China, and it is one of the top counterintelligence targets of the FBI. But a decade of efforts to stem the problem have been largely ineffective. Through previously unreleased FBI files and her reporting from across the United States and China, Hvistendahl describes a long history of shoddy counterintelligence on China, much of it tinged with racism, and questions the role that corporate influence plays in trade secrets theft cases brought by the U.S. government.{chop}

Conversation

08.01.19

How Should the U.S. Government Treat Chinese Students in America?

Siqi Tu, Mary Gallagher & more
The State Department’s top education official Marie Royce gave a speech entitled “The United States Welcomes Chinese Students.” In it, she quoted recent remarks from Donald Trump, who said, “We want to have Chinese students come and use our great...

Conversation

11.27.18

How to Be a Chinese Scientist without Being China’s Scientist

Yangyang Cheng, Yu He & more
As trade tensions between the United States and China worsen, a new technological cold war looms, casting its shadow over American universities and research institutions. How should individual scientists of Chinese origin decide whether to accept a...

Technology and Innovation in an Era of U.S.-China Strategic Competition

Paul Haenle & Elsa Kania from Carnegie China
China has taken significant steps to implement national strategies and encourage investment in order to surpass the U.S. in high tech fields like artificial intelligence. In this podcast, Paul Haenle sat down with Elsa Kania, adjunct fellow at the...

Cleared of Spying for China, She Still Doesn’t Have Her Job Back

Nicole Perlroth
New York Times
It is the case that the government simply will not let die.

Former CIA Officer Charged With Spying For China

Scott Neuman
NPR
An ex-CIA officer arrested in January at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport has been charged with conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of China years after FBI agents turned up notebooks containing classified information in a search of his hotel...

Mystery of Suspected China-CIA Spy Draws Lawmaker Scrutiny

Josh Meyer
Politico
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and other senior members of Congress are asking why the FBI took more than five years to arrest former CIA China hand Jerry Chun Shing Lee after it first became suspicious of him.

Ex-C.I.A. Officer Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants Is Arrested

Adam Goldman
New York Times
A former C.I.A. officer suspected by investigators of helping China dismantle United States spying operations and identify informants has been arrested, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. The collapse of the spy network was one of the American...

U.S. Congress Urged to Require Chinese Journalists to Register as Agents

David Brunnstrom
Reuters
A report to the U.S. Congress released on Wednesday accused Chinese state media entities of involvement in spying and propaganda and said their staff in the United States should be required to register as foreign agents.

China Grabbed American as Spy Wars Flare

Ali Watkins
Politico
The sun was setting over Chengdu when they grabbed the American. It was January 2016. The U.S. official had been working out of the American consulate in the central Chinese metropolis of more than 10 million. He may not have seen the plainclothes...

Chinese Jets Intercept US Surveillance Plane: US Officials

Idrees Ali
Reuters
Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea at the weekend, with one jet coming within about 300 feet (91 meters) of the American aircraft, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Fugitive Chinese Tycoon ‘Snoops on Middle Eastern Royal Families’ in Leaked Phone Messages

Nectar Gan
South China Morning Post
Recordings of what appear to be phone voice messages left by fugitive Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui requesting information about powerful royal family members in the Middle East and other international public figures have emerged online.

Former State Department Security Officer Accused of Spying for China

Charlie Savage
New York Times
F.B.I. agents found top-secret documents on a device he brought back from Shanghai.

Former Top U.S. Spy James Clapper Warns of China’s Russian-Style Behavior in Australia

Ezra Fieser
ABC
China’s growing influence over Australian politics has similarities with Russia's recent meddling in American democracy.

Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations

MARK MAZZETTI, ADAM GOLDMAN, MICHAEL S...
New York Times
The Chinese government systematically dismantled C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward.

China Finds U.S. Businesswoman Guilty of Stealing State Secrets, Orders Deportation

Newsweek
A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced a U.S. citizen to three-years and six-months in prison for espionage but then ordered she be deported, her lawyer said, in a case that has added to U.S.-China tension.

Trump Team Takes Steps to Keep Chinese Away from Westinghouse

Bloomberg
The Trump administration is so alarmed that Chinese investors may try to purchase Westinghouse Electric Co.’s nuclear business that U.S. officials are trying to find an American or allied buyer for the company instead, two people familiar with the...

How China Is Preparing for Cyberwar

Adam Segal
Christian Science Monitor
The U.S. and China have made progress on curbing commercial cyberespionage. Now, the global powers need to set limits when it comes to digital warfare.

Rather Than Talk to Taiwan, China Sends in the Spies

Chris Horton
Quartz
While spy scandals are not uncommon in Taiwan, the news has heightened concerns that the island is inadequately prepared to deal with Chinese espionage at a time when relations across the Taiwan Strait are at their lowest point in years.

Guess What India and China Need to Improve Relations? More Spies

Nicolas Groffman
South China Morning Post
Strange as it may sound, China and India need a basis in espionage to improve their relationship.

China Moves to Ease Foreign Concerns on Cybersecurity Controls

Eva Dou and Rachel King
Wall Street Journal
China will allow Microsoft, Cisco, other foreign tech companies to join the influential Technical Committee 260.

FBI Files Say China Firm Pushed U.S. Experts for Nuclear Secrets

David Voreacos and David McLaughlin
Bloomberg
Summaries of the consultants’ interviews with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were filed this month.

China Spy Ship ‘Shadowing’ U.S., Japanese, Indian Naval Drill in Western Pacific

Megha Rajagopalan
Reuters
U.S. tries to protect freedom of navigation, China challenges....

China Sentences Man to Death for Espionage, Saying He Sold Secrets

Javier Hernandez
New York Times
A former computer technician, was convicted of selling 150,000 classified documents to foreign spies.

Sinica Podcast

02.22.16

Allegiance

Kaiser Kuo & Jeremy Goldkorn from Sinica Podcast
Kaiser and Jeremy recorded today’s show from New York, where they waylaid Holly Chang, founder of Project Pengyou and now Acting Executive Director of the Committee of 100, for a discussion on spying, stealing commercial spying, spying, and Broadway...

Artist Ai Weiwei Discovers Hidden 'Listening Devices' in Beijing Studio

Tiffany Ap
CNN
"When I found these bugs, I had a strange feeling," he said.

U.S. Pulls Spies from China After Hack

Evan Perez
CNN
The U.S. suspects that Chinese hackers were behind the breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the fingerprints of 5.6 million government employees.

China Says Arrests Two Japanese for Spying

Linda Sieg and Kaori Kaneko
Reuters
Japan's Asahi newspaper said one man was taken into custody in China's northeast province of Liaoning near the border with North Korea and the other in the eastern province of Zhejiang near a military facility.

Conversation

09.22.15

Can the U.S. & China Make Peace in Cyberspace?

Charlie Smith, Rogier Creemers & more
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States today on his first state visit. Xi will address a group of American business leadersin Seattle. High on their list of concerns about trade with China is cyber hacking, cyber espionage and...

China Says Investigating U.S. Woman Suspected of Spying

Megha Rajagopalan
Reuters
An American woman suspected of spying is being investigated.

U.S. Drops Charges That Professor Shared Technology With China

MATT APUZZO
New York Times
The Justice Department dropped all charges against Mr. Xi, the chairman of Temple University's physics department.

‘Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation’ Revs to Record Opening Day in China

Pamela McClintock
Hollywood Reporter
The Tom Cruise movie scored the top opening of all time for a 2D Hollywood title with $18.5 million on Tuesday.

Obama Administration Warns Beijing About Covert Agents Operating in U.S.

Mark Mazetti, Dan Levin
New York Times
The warning reflects escalating anger in Washington about intimidation tactics used by the agents.

State Department Stays Quiet About Exit from Chinese-Owned Waldorf Astoria

Mahita Gajanan
Guardian
UN general assembly will be held at different hotel for first time in decades.

Sale of High-Tech Battery Plants to China May Haunt Hillary Clinton

Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press
@tsspangler http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/06/05/clinton-sale-michigan-china-gop/28525387/

Caixin Media

06.04.15

China Uses Drones to Monitor Pollution Problems from Above

China’s environmental regulators want to increase the use of drones watching pollution levels, supplementing the existing monitoring system.In the central city of Wuhan, drones were sent to urban areas to inspect emissions from chimneys that are...

China to Expand Naval Operations Amid Growing Tensions With U.S.

Chun Han Wong
Wall Street Journal
Changes designed to address U.S. rebalance in Asia and other challenges.

The Spy Cables: Chinese Espionage in Africa

Eric Olander & Cobus van Staden
Buried in the trove of secret intelligence documents known as “The Spy Cables” obtained by Al Jazeera and The Guardian is a passing reference to allegations Chinese spies broke into a South African nuclear facility in 2007. Interestingly, this was...

Canadian Woman Detained in China on Spying Suspicions Released on Bail

Nathan Vanderklippe
Globe and Mail
Julia Garratt was released to her family “pending trial by Liaoning Provincial State Security Bureau.” 

‘A Map of Betrayal,’ by Ha Jin

Ben Macintyre
New York Times
Many years ago, the F.B.I. coined an acronym, MICE, to describe the motivations of the spy. This stands for Money, Ideology, Compromise and Ego. All spies, it is argued, are drawn into espionage by some combination of these factors.

Manual on How to Spot a Spy Circulates in an Increasingly Wary China

Didi Kirsten Tatlow
New York Times
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Or an American spy. Or a “hostile foreign force.” So says the “China Folk Counterespionage Manual,” a “how to spot a spy” guide circulating on the Internet.

In Hong Kong Photographer, China Sees Image of Spy

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Dan Garrett, a gnarled, tattooed former Pentagon intelligence analyst, has attracted more stares than usual lately when he prowls the streets here with a camera fitted with a 300-millimeter lens, snapping images of pro-democracy demonstrations,...

Using Cash and Pressure, China Builds Its Chip Industry

Paul Mozur
New York Times
Beijing is starting programs to increase investment by the state and to gain expertise from foreign chip companies. Experts say the chip industry is one focus of Chinese espionage efforts.

GSK China’s Private-Eyes Indicted in Shanghai for Illegal Probe

Xinhua
Peter William Humphrey, a 58-year-old Brit, and his wife Yu Ying Zeng, a 61-year old American, were arrested last August. Theirs is the first indictment Chinese prosecutors have announced on foreigners for illegal investigation.

How Will Cyber Spying Impact U.S., China Relations?

Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Asia Society Senior Fellow Jamie Metzl discusses cyber spying and U.S., China relations and the re-militarization of Japan on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

China Labels iPhone a Security Threat

Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
 Report cites researchers who say tracking app could expose 'state secrets.'

Culture

07.01.14

Inside the Mind of a Chinese Hacker

Emily Parker
In May, the U.S. announced the indictment of five Chinese hackers for breaking into the computers of U.S. companies. The men went by code names like UglyGorilla and KandyGoo. A recent report revealed that the hackers, who worked for Unit 61398 of...

China Escalates Its War on American Tech Firms

Michael Schuman
Time
The Chinese government, angered by Washington's charge that Beijing engages in cyberspying, is looking for some payback.

Investigation Confirms U.S. Snooping Activities Against China: Report

Xinhua
A Chinese Internet information body said an investigation has confirmed "the existence of snooping activities directed against China" by the U.S., as exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

China Threatens Security Checks for Tech Firms After U.S. Indictments

Christopher Buckley
New York Times
China will establish new procedures to assess potential security problems with Internet technology and services used by sectors “related to national security and the public interest.”

UglyGorilla Hacker Left Tracks, U.S. Cyber-Hunters Say

Michael A. Riley and Dune Lawrence
Bloomberg
Prosecutors building a case against Wang Dong, one of five Chinese military hackers indicted for economic espionage, were helped by Wang’s apparent willingness to break a cardinal rule of spying: Leave no tracks.

China Accuses U.S. of Hypocrisy Amid Charges of Economic Espionage

Massoud Hayoun
Al Jazeera
Unresolved allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on a Chinese telecoms giant Huawei have resurfaced amid growing anger from Chinese officials over accusations that the PLA hacked American databases.

China Jails Man for Leaking Military Data

Marin Patience
BBC
News reports have not named the country which received the information leaked by a man surnamed Li in 23 classified documents, of which 13 were considered highly classified, state media said.

A New Kind of Spy

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
New Yorker
Greg Chung worked on NASA’s space-shuttle program. Then, in 2010, he became the first American to be convicted of economic espionage. He was eager to help China: “He has a big heart,” his wife said.

Virgin Galactic Bans Chinese Tourists from Space Flights Fearing Espionage

Asian News International
Tycoons willing to pay 250,000 dollars for the tickets have been advised to get another nationality's passport to board the flights. 

Snowden Lied About China Contacts

Gordon G. Chang
Daily Beast
The New York Times has urged the Obama administration to offer Edward Snowden “a plea bargain or some form of clemency,” calling the former NSA contractor “a whistle-blower” for his exposure of “the vast scope” of the NSA’s “reach into the lives of...

China Media on the Snowden Saga

BBC
Media in China see further embarrassment for the United States after whistleblower Edward Snowden gets temporary asylum in Russia.

Media

02.22.13

Complaints, Nationalism, and Spoofs

Ouyang Bin & Zhang Xiaoran
This week, United States government and American media charges of Chinese cyberattacks have led to a variety of responses from netizens across China. On February 19, a CNN camera crew tried to shoot video of the twelve-story military-owned building...

Media

02.20.13

On China’s Twitter, Discussion of Hacking Attacks Proceeds Unblocked

As The New York Times reported yesterday evening, U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant has just released a deeply troubling report called “Exposing One of China’s Cyber Espionage Units.” The report alleges wide-spread hacking sponsored by the...