Chinese espionage in the United States

For a list of individuals suspected or convicted of spying on the United States for China, see List of Chinese spy cases in the United States of America.

U.S. Department of Justice among others announced 23 criminal charges (Financial Fraud, Money Laundering, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Theft of Trade Secret Technology and Sanctions Violations, etc.) against Huawei and its CFO Wanzhou Meng

The United States has often accused the People's Republic of China of attempting to unlawfully acquire U.S. military technology and classified information as well as trade secrets of U.S. companies[1][2] in order to support China's long-term military and commercial development.[3] Chinese government agencies and affiliated personnel have been accused of using a number of methods to obtain U.S. technology (using U.S. law to avoid prosecution), including espionage, exploitation of commercial entities, and a network of scientific, academic and business contacts.[4] Prominent espionage cases include Larry Wu-tai Chin, Katrina Leung, Gwo-Bao Min, Chi Mak, Peter Lee, and Shujun Wang.[5] The Ministry of State Security (MSS) maintains a bureau dedicated to espionage against the United States, the United States Bureau.

In addition to traditional espionage, China partners civilian-in-name Chinese companies with American businesses to acquire technology and economic data[6] and uses cyber spying to penetrate the computer networks of U.S. businesses and government agencies, such as the 2009 Operation Aurora and the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach.[7] U.S. law enforcement officials have identified China as the most active foreign power involved in the illegal acquisition of American technology.[8][9]

During its martial law period (1949–1987), the Republic of China government on Taiwan spied on its citizens abroad, especially in the United States.

  1. ^ Finkle, J. Menn, J., Viswanatha, J. U.S. accuses China of cyber spying on American companies. Archived October 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Reuters, Mon 19 May 2014 6:04pm EDT.
  2. ^ Clayton, M. US indicts five in China's secret 'Unit 61398' for cyber-spying. Archived May 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Christian Science Monitor, May 19, 2014
  3. ^ Mattis, Peter; Brazil, Matthew (November 15, 2019). Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-304-7. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  4. ^ deGraffenreid, p. 30.
  5. ^ Wortzel, p. 6.
  6. ^ Wortzel, p. 9.
  7. ^ Helft, Miguel and John Markoff, "In Rebuke of China, Focus Falls on Cybersecuirty," The New York Times, January 13, 2010.
  8. ^ Solomon, Jay (August 10, 2005). "FBI Sees Big Threat From Chinese Spies; Businesses Wonder". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  9. ^ Wortzel, p. 8.