The United States has often accused thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) of unlawfully acquiring USmilitary technology,classified information, personnel data, andtrade secrets of US companies[1][2] in order to support China's long-term military and commercial development.[3] Alleged perpetrators include Chinese government agencies, affiliated personnel, civilian-in-name companies[4] and their network of academic or business contacts.[5]
Individuals convicted of traditionalespionage includeLarry Wu-tai Chin,Katrina Leung, Gwo-Bao Min,Chi Mak, Peter Lee, andShujun Wang.[6] The PRC also usescyber espionage to penetrate the computer networks of U.S. businesses and government agencies. Notable examples include the 2009Operation Aurora and the 2015Office of Personnel Management data breach.[7] Units of thePeople's Liberation Army have also been implicated in a number of cyber intrusions.[8]
US law enforcement officials have identified China as the most active foreign power involved in the illegal acquisition of American technology.[9][10] According toCenter for Strategic and International Studies, from 2000 to 2023, there were 224 reported instances of Chinese spying in the United States.[11]
During itsmartial law period (1949–1987), theRepublic of China government onTaiwan spied on its citizens abroad, especially in the United States.
China has used a variety of methods to gather intelligence in the United States.[12][13][14][15][16] Individuals attempt to obtain targeted information fromopen sources such as libraries, research institutions and unclassified databases.[12] Chinese travelers are recruited to carry out specific intelligence activities while individuals returning from exchange programs, trade missions and scientific-cooperation programs are debriefed for intelligence.[17] Chinese citizens may be coerced into cooperating.[18] China has recruited both Chinese and US citizens in the past. Motivations for the recruited include finances, conviction in the cause, extortion, and ego.[8]
Much technology acquisition occurs through commerce and commercial regulations. The regulatory and commercial environment in China pressures American and other foreign companies to transfer technology, capital and manufacturing expertise, especially in defense-related or dual-use industries such as computers, to their Chinese partners as part of doing business in China's huge, lucrative markets.[19][20] Chinese agents purchase high-tech equipment throughfront organizations inHong Kong.[17][19] China also uses state-run firms to purchase American companies with access to the targeted technology.[17]
China also accesses foreign technology throughindustrial espionage,[19] withUnited States Immigration and Customs Enforcement rating China's industrial-espionage and theft operations as the leading threat to US technological security.[21] In 2021, actingNCSC Director Michael Orlando estimated thatChina stole between $200 billion and $600 billion worth of Americanintellectual property every year.[22] Between October 2002 and January 2003, five Chinese businessmen were accused of illegally shipping equipment and trade secrets fromCalifornia to China,[23] and US officials prevented a Chinese man from shipping a new, high-speed computer used in classified projects (including nuclear-weapons development) fromSandia National Laboratories.[23]
In July 2020,FBI DirectorChristopher Wray called China the "greatest long-term threat" to the United States. He said that "the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours. Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently underway across the country, almost half are related to China."[24]
US RepresentativeEric Swalwell, who serves on theHouse Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,[25] was in the past targeted by a Chinese woman believed to be a clandestine officer of China'sMinistry of State Security.[26][27] The alleged Chinese spy later participated in fundraising for Swalwell's 2014 congressional election bid and helped place an intern inside Swalwell's congressional office.[28] The FBI gave Swalwell a "defensive briefing" in 2015, informing him that the woman was a suspected Chinese agent.[29]
In 2013, a Chinese driver was employed by SenatorDianne Feinstein who was notified that the driver was being investigated for possible Chinese spying. At some point, he visited China and was recruited by China's MSS. He worked for Senator Feinstein for several years. The FBI concluded the driver hadn't revealed anything of substance.[30]
In 2015, the Obama administration protested to Beijing after discovering that Chinese agents, as part ofOperation Fox Hunt, were tracking down Chinese dissidents in the United States to pressure them to return to China for prosecution.[31] In October 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that "when it couldn't locate a Fox Hunt target, the Chinese government sent an emissary to visit the victim's family here in the United States. And the message they said to pass on? The target had two options: Return to China promptly or commit suicide. And what happens when Fox Hunt targets refuse to return to China? Their family members, both here in the United States and in China, have been threatened and coerced; and those back in China have even been arrested for leverage."[32][33] In July 2021,ProPublica reported that Operation Fox Hunt, nominally focused on economic crimes, was targeting "Tibetans,Hong Kongers, followers of theFalun Gong religious movement and, perhaps most visibly, theUyghurs." ProPublica reported that a team of Communist Party operatives and police based inWuhan had been roaming the United States pressuring Chinese immigrant communities, with the spies performing stalking in plain sight and hiring a US-based private investigator. For example, in a 2018 New Jersey court case, a former Chinese official living in the US was sued by the Wuhan-based Xinba Construction Group. The expatriate was harassed outside of court and received notes threatening his family. Later, he received a video from his family in China imploring him to return with a staged shot, implying the video was coerced by the Chinese government, according to investigators.[34]
In 2017, MSS officials entered the United States on the pretense of transit visas as cultural officials. During the visit the officials made an attempt to persuade Chinese dissidentGuo Wengui to return to China in order to face charges for prosecution. Guo Wengui accepted the meeting, out of apparent gratitude for one of the officials, named Liu Yanping, having previously assisted in bringing his wife to America. However, Guo Wengui recorded the conversations and alerted the FBI. Subsequently, the Chinese officials were confronted by FBI agents inPennsylvania Station, the Chinese officials initially claimed to be cultural affairs diplomats but ultimately admitted to being security officials. The Chinese officials were given a warning for their activities in New York and were ordered to return to China. Two days later, the officials again visited the apartment of Guo Wengui once more prior to leaving the country. While at the apartment the second time, the officials reportedly ate dumplings made by the wife of Guo Wengui, and Guo Wengui walked them out of the building after again declining their offer of clemency for silence. The FBI was aware of the second visit and agents were prepared to arrest the Chinese security officials atJFK Airport prior to theirAir China flight on charges of visa fraud and extortion, but arrests were not made following pressure from the State Department to avoid a diplomatic crisis. The FBI did, however, confiscate the Chinese officials’ phones before the plane took off.[35]
Theeighteenth bureau of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) is dedicated to espionage against the United States.[36] According toNicholas Eftimiades, PRC intelligence collection activities focus on educational, research, and manufacturing centers in states such as Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas.[37]
A May 2025 study by researchers at theFoundation for Defense of Democracies found that a Chinese government-backed intelligence operation has been targeting laid-off US government employees through fake job websites such asLinkedIn and social media.[38]Data broker companies are also targets.[8]
In 1999, theUnited States House of Representatives published theCox Report, which warned that China has stolen classified information on everythermonuclear warhead in the country'sintercontinental ballistic missile arsenal.[39] Information is collected through espionage, reviews of US technical and academic publications and interaction with US scientists.[40] China tasks a large number of individuals to collect small pieces of information (which arecollated and analyzed),[40] and individual agents can more easily escape suspicion. US government personnel suspect that China's intelligence-gathering efforts directed towards the development of modern nuclear weapons are focused on theLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where nuclear weapons were first developed in the 1940s,Lawrence Livermore,Sandia andOak Ridge National Laboratories.[40] China is known to have stolen classified information on the W-56 Minuteman IIICBM, the W-62 Minuteman III ICBM, the W-70 Lanceshort-range ballistic missile (SRBM), the W-76 Trident C-4submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the W-78 Minuteman III Mark 12A ICBM, the W-87 Peacekeeper ICBM and the W-88 Trident D-5 SLBM and weapon-design concepts and features.[41]
In 2016, the US Justice Department chargedChina General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) with stealing nuclear secrets from the United States.[42][43]TheGuardian reported: "According to the US Department of Justice, theFBI has discovered evidence that China General Nuclear Power (CGN) has been engaged in a conspiracy to steal US nuclear secrets stretching back almost two decades. Both CGN and one of the corporation's senior advisers, Szuhsiung Ho, have been charged with conspiring to help the Chinese government develop nuclear material in a manner that is in clear breach of US law."[44]
A 2022 report by Strider Technologies, a strategic intelligence firm, found that over the past two decades, China has recruited at least 154 Chinese scientists from LANL to support China's development of military technologies that pose threats to US national security.[45][46]
China conducts political and corporate espionage to access the networks of financial, defense and technology companies and research institutions in the United States.[47] Email attachments attempting to enter the networks of US companies and organizations exploit security weaknesses in software.[47] A recipient opens an email attachment, apparently from a familiar source, containing a program which embeds in the recipient's computer. The remotely controlled program allows an attacker to access the recipient's email, send sensitive documents to specific addresses and turns on such instruments as web cameras or microphones.[47]
The FBI stated that China operates the world's largest hacking program, surpassing all other foreign governments combined, making it difficult to keep pace with Beijing's intelligence-gathering efforts.[48] In 2019, CNN reported that China had created an extensive infrastructure charged with cyber espionage over the past two decades. A previous FBI head of counterintelligence said that "the Chinese have tens of thousands of young kids—like our MIT's or Stanford's best—hacking against the US." Some hackers work full-time and others work part-time.[49]
Just using cyber means, Chinese government hackers have stolen more of our personal and corporate data than every other nation combined. The harm from the Chinese government’s economic espionage isn't just that its companies pull ahead based on illegally gotten technology. While they pull ahead, they push our companies and workers behind. And that harm—company failures, job losses—has been building for a decade to the crush that we feel today. It’s harm felt across the country in a whole range of industries.
— Director of the FBIChristopher Wray, Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the U.S., Remarks at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, January 21, 2022)
In January 2010,Google reported "a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google."[50] According to investigators, the Googlecyber-attack targeted theGmail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists.[50] At least 34 other companies have been attacked, including Yahoo, Symantec, Adobe, Northrop Grumman and Dow Chemical.[47]
In January 2013,The New York Times reported that it was the victim of hacking attempts originating from China during the previous four months after it published an article onPrime MinisterWen Jiabao. According to the newspaper, the "attacks appear to be part of a broader computer espionage campaign against American news media companies that have reported on Chinese leaders and corporations."[51]
Chinese cyber-attacks seem to target strategic industries in which China lags;[47] attacks on defense companies target weapons-systems information, and attacks on technology companies seek source code critical to software applications.[47] Operation Aurora emphasized what senior U.S. government officials have called an increasingly serious cyber threat to critical industries.[47]
On August 6, 2020, US PresidentDonald Trump officially extended restrictions against Chinese-owned apps by signing two executive orders that would ban US residents from doing business withTikTok andWeChat, a popular messaging platform run byTencent Holdings Ltd. The ban was enacted, citing the security risk of leaving Americans’ personal data exposed.[52] However, on September 28, 2020, the ban was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.[53]
In September 2022, it was reported during Congressional testimony that the FBI had informedTwitter of at least one MSS agent on its payroll.[54]
In January 2024, US authorities stated that they disrupted an operation by the Chinese state's advanced persistent threat calledVolt Typhoon to target US critical infrastructure.[55]
In September 2024,Salt Typhoon, an advanced persistent threat (APT) affiliated with the MSS,[56] was publicly reported to have gained access to multipleinternet service providers in the U.S. and attempted to gain access to the phones of staff of theKamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign as well as those ofDonald Trump andJD Vance.[57][58][59]
In October 2024,The Washington Post reported that the US federal government formed a multi-agency team to address a 2024 hack of US telecommunications companies, conducted bySalt Typhoon, which affected systems that track federal wiretap requests.[60]
In September 2025, Phantum Taurus was identified as a new China-backed group that engages in espionage attacks, targeting foreign governments and militaries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.[61][62]
In 2007, the computer security companyMcAfee alleged that China was actively involved in cyberwarfare, accusing the country ofcyber-attacks on India, Germany and the United States; China denied knowledge of these attacks.[citation needed] In September 2007, former senior USinformation security official Paul Strassmann said that 735,598 computers in the US were "infested with Chinesezombies"; computers infected in this manner can theoretically form abotnet capable of carrying out unsophisticated yet potentially dangerousdenial-of-service attacks.[63] A cyber spying network known asGhostNet, using servers primarily based in China, was reported as tapping into the classified documents of government and private organizations in 103 countries (includingTibetan exiles);[64][65] China denied the claim.[66][67]
In a July 2021 joint statement withNATO, theEU, and otherWestern nations, the US accused the Ministry of State Security of perpetrating several cyberattacks, most notably the2021 Microsoft Exchange Server data breach.[68][69][70][71]
In December 2009 and January 2010, a cyberattack, known as Operation Aurora, was launched from China on Google and over 20 other companies.[72] Google said that the attacks originated from China, and it would "review the feasibility" of its business operations in China as a result of the incident. According to Google, at least 20 other companies in a variety of sectors were also targeted by the attacks. According to McAfee, "this is the highest profile attack of its kind that we have seen in recent memory."[73]
In May 2014, a US federalgrand jury indicted five Chinese military officers for cyber espionage and stealing trade secrets.[2] It was alleged that the officers hacked into the computers of six US companies to steal information that would provide an economic advantage to Chinese competitors, including Chinese state-owned enterprises. The Chinese government claimed that the charges were "made-up", and said that the indictment would damage trust between the two nations.[74] Although the indictments have been called relatively meaningless, they could limit travel by the officers due to the US extradition treaties.[75]
In November 2017, theDepartment of Justice charged three Chinese employees of Guangzhou Bo Yu Information Technology Company Limited with hacking into corporate entities in the United States, includingSiemens AG,Moody's Analytics, andTrimble Inc.[76]
Since at least 2013, a Chinese espionage group called TEMP.Periscope byFireEye is reported to have been engaged in espionage against maritime-related subjects.[77] FireEye reported that the information targeted was likely of commercial and economic importance.[77]
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) was tied to economic espionage involving stolen business plans, intellectual property, and infringed on private conversations from Westinghouse Electric and United States Steel Corporation.[78]
Chinese hackers have stolen information on the Patriot missile system, theF-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and theUS Navy's new littoral combat ship. These blueprints of US weapon and control systems were stolen to advance the development of Chinese weaponry.[79]
The protection of the South China Sea is highly important to the US because a Chinese Cyber Unit has already succeeded in an intrusion into the Philippine's government and military networks. Military documents, internal communications, and other sensitive materials related to the dispute were lost due to the cyber invasion.[80]
In January and February 2018, Chinese state cyber actors reportedly stole 614 gigabytes of data from aNaval Undersea Warfare Center-affiliated contractor.[81] The compromised material reportedly included information on a project dubbed "Sea Dragon", as well asUnited States Navy submarine cryptographic systems andelectronic warfare.[81]
The New York Times reported that Russia and China are routinely eavesdropping on calls from aniPhone used by President Donald Trump, with China reportedly attempting to influence the President by identifying and influencing the people Trump is regularly in contact with.[82][83]
According to the cybersecurity firm Area 1, hackers working for thePeople's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force compromised the networks of theAFL–CIO in order to gain information on negotiations for theTrans-Pacific Partnership.[84]
As part of a campaign called Cloudhopper, hackers working for the Ministry of State Security compromised the networks ofIBM andHewlett Packard Enterprise, and used that access to compromise those companies' clients.[85][86] The Cloudhopper attacks began no later than 2014, and included targets in Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[86]
In 2018, theUnited States Department of Justice indicted two individuals of APT10, which it stated was under the direction of theTianjin State Security Bureau (TSSB) of MSS.[87]
In October 2018,Bloomberg Businessweek published a story which alleged thatSupermicro's contractors in China had beencompromised by the People's Liberation Army in an operation to implant microchips withhardware backdoors in its servers. The report was widely disputed by the sources and companies who were named therein.[88][89]
In March 2019, iDefense reported that Chinese hackers had launched cyberattacks on dozens of academic institutions in an attempt to gain information on technology being developed for the United States Navy.[90] Some of the targets included theUniversity of Hawaii, theUniversity of Washington, theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, andWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution.[90] The attacks have been underway since at least April 2017.[90]
In March 2025, theUnited States Department of Justice unsealed two indictments against Chinese nationals Yin Kecheng (尹可成), also known as "YKC" or "YIN," and Zhou Shuai (周帅),[91] known as "Coldface" or "ZHOU," for their roles in a years-long cyber intrusion campaign attributed to the advanced persistent threat group APT27, also known as "Emissary Panda," "Bronze Union," and "Silk Typhoon." The indictments allege that the defendants conducted sophisticated computer intrusions targeting U.S.-based defense contractors, technology firms, government agencies, and other institutions for financial gain. Both individuals are said to have ties to the Chinese government, specifically theMinistry of Public Security (MPS) and theMinistry of State Security (MSS), which allegedly directed or supported the hackers' activities.[92][93]
The criminal conduct spans from at least 2011 to 2024 and includes charges such as conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and violations of theComputer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). According to U.S. authorities, Yin and Zhou gained unauthorized access to victim networks by exploiting vulnerabilities, installing persistent malware, and exfiltrating sensitive data. Zhou allegedly brokered stolen data and access to compromised networks to third parties, some of whom were connected to the PRC government or military. The scheme also involved the use ofvirtual private servers (VPS) and internet domains to mask operations and facilitate data theft.[92]
As part of the enforcement action, the U.S. government seized a VPS account used by Zhou and multiple domains operated by Yin. These assets were reportedly used to support intrusions, including a breach of theU.S. Department of Treasury. The Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Zhou and his affiliated company, Shanghai Heiying Information Technology Co., Ltd., and had previously sanctioned Yin for his role in the Treasury compromise. TheFederal Bureau of Investigation, NCIS, and multiple private cybersecurity firms contributed to the investigation, and arrest warrants remain outstanding for both defendants, who are considered fugitives.[92]
According to the indictment, Zhou Shuai had spent five years collecting data on border crossings, telecommunications, and individuals in the media, civil service, and religious sectors under directives from China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). The case highlights what U.S. officials describe as a growing "hacking-for-hire ecosystem" in China, where private firms such as i-Soon operate with implicit government backing, enabling Chinese state security services to maintain operational reach while preserving plausible deniability. Wu Haibo, founder of i-Soon and a former member of China's first hacktivist group, Green Army, is alleged to have overseen and coordinated many of these cyber operations.[93]
Hafnium, a state-sponsored Chinese cyber espionage group which is allegedly connected to China'sMinistry of State Security and considered to be one of theAPT40 groups, was responsible for a series of high-profile cyber intrusions targeting sensitive research and organizations worldwide. Operating through front companies such as Shanghai Powerock Network Co. Ltd., this group allegedly orchestrated attacks under the direction of theShanghai State Security Bureau. Notably, the group launched the "Hafnium" campaign, exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server software to compromise thousands of computers globally, including those of American universities, law firms, and entities involved inCOVID-19 research. Their tactics included deploying web shells for persistent access and exfiltrating sensitive data, with targets ranging from biomedical research to government policy documents.[94]
The Hafnium campaign, attributed to the APT40 group, exemplified the group's capacity for large-scale, indiscriminate cyberattacks, targeting over 60,000 U.S. entities and compromising more than 12,700 victims. The campaign underscored the persistent risks posed by state-sponsored hacking and the challenges of attribution and remediation in the global cybersecurity landscape.[94][95]
In July 2025, theUnited States Department of Justice unsealed a nine-count indictment in the Southern District of Texas against Xu Zewei and Zhang Yu, both Chinese nationals, for their roles in these intrusions. The charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, unauthorized access to protected computers, intentional damage to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft. Xu was arrested in Italy and faced extradition, while Zhang remained at large. The indictment highlighted use of a network of private contractors to obscure state involvement and maximize the scope of cyber-espionage operations.[94][95][96]
In July 2024,Mandiant reported a major resurgence in malware attacks byAPT 41, a notorious hacking group backed by the Chinese government. The group was found targeting organizations in the shipping, logistics, technology, and automotive industries across Europe and Asia.[97]
In September 2020, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had charged Chinese hackers Zhang Haoran, Tan Dailin, Jiang Lizhi, Qian Chuan, and Fu Qiang with breaching more than 100 companies, think tanks, universities and government agencies around the world.[98] The DOJ linked them to APT 41 hacking activities.[97]
In 2010, theShanghai State Security Bureau directed US citizenGlenn Duffie Shriver to apply for a position at the National Clandestine Service of the CIA. In 2017, SSSB case workers were implicated in the recruitment of US Department of State employee Candace Claiborne who was charged with obstruction of justice.[99]
On May 19, 2014, the United States Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury had indicted fivePeople's Liberation Army officers for stealing confidential business information and intellectual property from U.S. commercial firms and plantingmalware on their computers.[1][2]
During January 2017, the FBI arrested Candace Claiborne, a State Department employee who had previously worked in the American Embassy in Beijing between 2009 and 2012. In April 2019 Claiborne pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. Prosecutors argued that she had passed sensitive information to the MSS.[100]
In early 2017, ex-CIA officer Kevin Mallory was having financial difficulties when he was contacted by a "headhunter" on LinkedIn, who turned out to be a Ministry of State Security operative. The operative set up a phone call with Mallory and another person, pretending it was a job with theShanghai Academy of Social Sciences. After two visits to China, Mallory consented to selling defense secrets to his Chinese contacts.[101][102]
In October 2018, the Deputy Minister of State Security,Yanjun Xu, was charged witheconomic espionage by the United States prosecutors.[103]
In 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted two MSS contractors who were involved in hackingModerna, a biotechnology company developing a vaccine for theCOVID-19 pandemic.[104][105] In September 2020, theCybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a security advisory regarding hacking by groups affiliated with the MSS.[106]
On May 28, 2021, a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California returned an indictment against four People's Republic of China (PRC) citizens for their alleged roles in a long running campaign of computer network operations targeting trade secrets, intellectual property, and other high value information from companies, universities, research institutes, and governmental entities in the United States and abroad, as well as multiple foreign governments. The indictment alleges that Zhu Yunmin, Wu Shurong, Ding Xiaoyang, and Cheng Qingmin targeted the following sectors: aerospace/aviation, biomedical, defense industrial base, healthcare, manufacturing, maritime, research institutes, transportation (rail and shipping), and virus research from 2012 to 2018, on behalf of the PRC Ministry of State Security. Additionally, the indictment alleges the use offront companies by the Ministry of State Security to conduct cyber espionage.[107][108]
In July 2020, the United States Department of Justice charged two Chinese hackers who allegedly targeted intellectual property and confidential business information, including COVID-19 research. The two hackers allegedly worked with theGuangdong State Security Department of the Ministry of State Security.[109]
In September 2020, Baimadajie Angwang, aNew York City Police Officer of Tibetan descent, was arrested for allegedly gathering information on theTibetan American community for the MSS. He was also accused of trying to recruitinformants inside the local Tibetan community.[110][111] In January 2023, federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against the officer.[112]
In July 2021, the Justice Department credited four Chinese nationals (accused of working for the MSS) with a hacking campaign targeting government, academic, and private institutions; the individuals were each charged with one count ofconspiracy to commitcomputer fraud and conspiracy to commiteconomic espionage.[68][69][70][71]
In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted individuals, including an MSS officer, for surveilling and conspiring to harass Chinese American pro-democracy dissidents, including political candidateXiong Yan, Olympic figure skaterAlysa Liu and her father Arthur Liu.[113][114][115] In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a US citizen for spying under the direction of the MSS on Hong Kongpro-democracy activists,Taiwan independence supporters, andUyghur and Tibetan activists.[116]
In 2023,Ashley Tellis, a former U.S. State Department consultant, was accused of removing classified documents and meeting Chinese officials. Authorities found over 1,000 secret pages at his home and cited meetings in September 2022 and April 2023 discussing sensitive topics.[117]
Between 2010 and 2012, intelligence breaches led to Chinese authoritiesdismantling CIA intelligence networks in the country, killing and arresting a large number of CIA assets within China.[118] A joint CIA/FBIcounterintelligence operation, codenamed "Honey Bear", was unable to definitively determine the source of the compromises, though theories include the existence of amole, cyber-espionage, compromise of Hillary Clinton's illicit classified email server as noted by the intelligence community inspector general,[119] or poortradecraft.[118]Mark Kelton, then the deputy director of the National Clandestine Service for Counterintelligence, was initially skeptical that a mole was to blame.[118]
In January 2018, a former CIA officer named Jerry Chun Shing Lee[note 1] was arrested atJohn F. Kennedy International Airport, on suspicion of helping dismantle the CIA's network of informants in China.[122][123] He was found guilty and sentenced to 19 years.[124]
In an effort to steal the technology to enable Chinese companies to supply the components for theComac C919 aircraft, the Chinese engaged in both cyber andHUMINT operations. According to a report from cybersecurity firmCrowdstrike and aUS Justice Department indictment, from 2010 to 2015 the Chinese cyberthreat actor Turbine Panda, linked to the Ministry of State Security'sJiangsu Bureau, penetrated a number of the C919's foreign components manufacturers includingAmetek,Capstone Turbine,GE Aviation,Honeywell,Safran, and others and stole intellectual property and industrial processes data with the aim of transitioning component manufacturing to Chinese companies.[125][126][127][128][129] The report stated that the operations involved both cyber intrusion and theft as well as HUMINT operations, in most cases using a piece of code custom written for this industrial espionage operation.[125][126][127][128]
As of 2019, four people have been arrested in the US as a result of investigations into this economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.[128] Yanjun Xu, a senior intelligence officer of the MSS, was arrested in Belgium and extradited to the US and is alleged to have been involved in recruiting company insiders at multiple aerospace and aviation companies like GE Aviation to gain knowledge about technologies including those involving the use ofcomposite materials in jet engineturbine blades.[130][131][129]
In September 2020, it was reported that theU.S. State Department cancelled the visas of 1,000 Chinese students and researchers. The authorities claimed that the students had ties to the People's Liberation Army and also accused some of them of conducting espionage. The U.S. began revoking these visas on June 1, 2020.[132]
In December 2020,Axios reported an investigation into the case of a suspected Chinese spy who was enrolled as a student at aBay Area university. The suspected intelligence operative, known as Christine Fang, developed extensive ties with politicians at local and national levels between 2011 and 2015, includingU.S. representative forCalifornia's 15th congressional district Eric Swalwell. She was reportedly having sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors in theMidwest, according to a former elected official and a US intelligence official.[133][134]
In January 2020, the US Department of Justice arrestedCharles Lieber, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Dr. Lieber was also the Principal Investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, giving him direct access to information on nanoscience. The grants he received to oversee this work required him to disclose any foreign financial transactions. In 2011, Dr. Lieber was granted the title of "Strategic Scientist" at the Wuhan University of Technology. He received this role under China'sThousand Talents Program, which seeks to bring the expertise of prominent scientists to China and has been accused of stealing foreign information. He was required to work for the Wuhan lab for at least 9 months out of the year, and he got paid $50,000 per month. Dr. Lieber failed to inform the relevant institutions of his role, and he outright lied about his involvement in the program in 2018 and 2019.[135]
In 2024, five Shanghai Jiao Tong University students who participated in an exchange program with theUniversity of Michigan were charged with espionage-related offenses after being caught during exercises atCamp Grayling which included Taiwanese forces.[136] In January 2025, the University of Michigan ended its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.[137] This closely followed the termination of other relationships between US and Chinese universities, by the US partner, notably between Georgia Tech and Tianjin University,UC, Berkeley andTsinghua University, both in 2024–5.[138]
During its period ofmartial law on Taiwan (1949–1987) theKuomintang (KMT) government of the Republic of China surveilled Taiwanese abroad, most often in Japan and in the United States.[139]: 2 The United StatesFederal Bureau of Investigation often cooperated with or allowed the KMT to surveil Taiwanese students and other Taiwanese migrants in the United States.[139]: 15
From 1964 to 1991, there were scores of reported instances of the KMT spying on Taiwanese students across twenty-one different US college campuses.[139]: 5 Student informants to the KMT were part of a surveillance infrastructure called the as thecaihong (rainbow) project, named as a play-on-words related to stamping out Red communist bandits.[139]: 5 According to academic Wendy Cheng, the KMT's likely first arrest of a US student based on surveillance conducted in the U.S. was that of University of Wisconsin graduate student Hwang Chii-ming.[139]: 85
In 1968, recentEast-West Center student Chen Yu-Hsi was arrested by the KMT government based on its surveillance of Chen in the United States.[139]: 101–102 TheTaiwan Garrison Command alleged that Chen had read communist literature including works byMao Zedong while at the East-West Center library.[139]: 103 Chen was convicted of sedition at a July 1968 trial and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.[139]: 104 Chen was released in 1971 after receiving amnesty.[139]: 104
According to a 1979 report by theUnited States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Taiwan government operated one of the two most active anti-dissident networks within the United States, with agents infiltrated within universities and campus organizations and large-scalepropaganda campaigns implemented through front organizations.[139]: 7
In 1981,Carnegie Mellon professorChen Wen-chen was murdered while in KMT custody.[139]: 39
The KMT ordered the 1984 assassination of US citizenHenry Liu in California.[139]: 23
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)An indictment was unsealed today against Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei, all of whom are Chinese nationals and residents of China, for computer hacking, theft of trade secrets, conspiracy and identity theft directed at US and foreign employees and computers of three corporate victims in the financial, engineering and technology industries between 2011 and May 2017. The three Chinese hackers work for the purported China-based Internet security firm Guangzhou Bo Yu Information Technology Company Limited (a/k/a "Boyusec").
President Donald Trump's unwillingness to ditch Apple's iPhone in favor of more secure hardware has granted Chinese and Russian spies an open door into his private phone conversations, according to a new report.
The cyberintruders also infiltrated the networks of the United Nations, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and ministries of foreign affairs and finance worldwide. The hack of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. focused on issues surrounding the negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that excluded Beijing.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.The police officer, Baimadajie Angwang, who was born in the autonomous region of Tibet in China, allegedly repeatedly reported to officials at the Chinese Consulate in New York on the activities of other ethnic Tibetans in the New York area.
The officer, Baimadajie Angwang, 33, was arrested Monday, according to the US Attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged him with acting as a foreign agent without notifying American authorities, wire fraud and making false statements, according to a complaint. They also charged him with obstruction of an official proceeding -- prosecutors claim he lied on a national security clearance form that granted him a "secret" security clearance.
He did not maintain any internet presence under his name in English or Chinese, or under an alternative spelling Zhen Cheng Li. He may have used an alias or avoided using public internet accounts altogether.
The human intelligence efforts included one by a now-indicted MSS intelligence officer to recruit an insider at LEAP-X manufacturer General Electric. The same officer also recruited a China-born US Army reservist who was an expert at assessing turbine engine schematics. So far, at least four individuals have been arrested in connection with China's campaign targeting aerospace companies.
Xu made his initial appearance in federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday. According to court papers, he is a deputy division director for the Ministry of State Security, which is China's intelligence and security agency, in Jiangsu Province. His job, prosecutors say, was to obtain technical information and trade secrets from foreign aviation and aerospace companies.
He was detained in Belgium on 1 April at the request of the US. He was later indicted by an Ohio grand jury on four charges of conspiring to commit economic espionage and attempting to steal trade secrets.