Wednesday, July 16, 2025

"US-China spy wars intensify under Trump 2.0 as tech competition heats up"

From the South China Morning Post, July 16:

Both sides boosting espionage and counter-espionage efforts, increasingly publicise spy arrests and covert operations 

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week arrested a suspected Chinese hacker for allegedly stealing sensitive American research on Covid-19 vaccines in 2020, the head of America’s top law enforcement agency hailed the episode as “manhunting” the Chinese Communist Party.

“The CCP’s relentless attacks on our institutions will not go unanswered,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media.

“The FBI will hunt down those who threaten our national security – wherever they hide,” he wrote, adding, “huge ... manhunting the CCP.”

Then, soon after the FBI announced taking 33-year-old Chinese national Xu Zewei into custody at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, China’s Ministry of State Security made a similarly dramatic announcement, saying it had disrupted three foreign espionage plots. It also warned government workers to remain alert.

In one of the cases publicised by the MSS, a provincial official identified as “Li” was allegedly seduced by a foreign intelligence agent while abroad, then blackmailed, using intimate photos, and coerced into stealing “confidential” documents when back in China.

“Foreign spies have become increasingly aggressive in infiltrating China and stealing secrets,” the MSS said in a statement that did not name any particular country but blamed “a weakened sense of discipline” among officials for recent lapses.

The announcements come amid a shifting geopolitical tech rivalry between the two superpowers, which experts say has intensified into a broader intelligence contest, as both sides escalate espionage and counter-espionage efforts, and increasingly publicise spy arrests and covert operations.

The US government has toughened measures against technology theft, cyber espionage, and academic infiltration, including revoking visas for Chinese students and researchers deemed security risks. As part of that toughening, Patel has quickly reshaped FBI priorities, calling the Chinese Communist Party the “adversary of our time”.

On the other hand, President Donald Trump has also eased some export controls he imposed earlier this year. On Tuesday, American tech giants Nvidia and AMD said they can resume selling of their artificial intelligence chips in the Chinese market. Earlier this month, the Trump administration lifted some curbs on exports design software to China in exchange for increased flow of critical minerals.

However, there is no expectation the spying competition will slow down.

Both countries have increased espionage against each other “as the relationship has developed into one of intense competition on many fronts from trade to military supremacy to global influence”, Dennis Wilder, the CIA’s deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific from 2015 to 2016, said by email.

Wilder, who now teaches at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, added that US intelligence agencies have “stepped up ... efforts to recruit Chinese spies using such innovations as direct online appeals to disaffected Chinese officials.”

“Similarly, MSS operations against US citizens and business persons have also intensified,” he said.

He said he doubted that the Nvidia announcement would have any significant impact on the overall espionage efforts of either side.

“China’s intelligence services might shift priorities a bit away from trying to steal secrets related to advanced chips but the overall effort is unlikely to be affected,” Wilder wrote.

Sheena Chestnut Greitens, an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin, who is writing a book on Chinese internal security, agreed that as strategic competition between the US and China has heated up, “intelligence competition between the two great powers has also intensified.”

“These cases likely reflect the growing global profile of China’s intelligence apparatus — as well as increased global awareness of and efforts to counter Chinese espionage operations abroad,” she said....

....MUCH MORE 

Related:

"US-China decoupling: Washington bans diplomats and staff from romance and sex with Chinese"

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....Recently, it warned people:

– not to get seduced by “tall, beautiful people”

In any event, Congressman Swalwell hardest hit

Honey Traps: Sex, lies, and spycraft.

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