China aims to become a global superpower and eliminate U.S. dominance by implementing in recent years a revisionist and expansionist strategy that adheres faithfully to the principles of Sun Tzu. In the Chinese strategist’s book “The Art of War”, great importance is given to the power of information. Whoever possesses the information has an advantage in competition and conflict. To obtain information, espionage is necessary.
Espionage is the acquisition of classified or confidential information by a government, company or natural person without the permission of the information holder. It is inherently secret, as it is undesirable and often in many cases illegal and punishable by law. It is a subset of” intelligence gathering, ” which may otherwise be conducted from public sources and using perfectly legal and ethical means. It is important to distinguish espionage from “intelligence gathering”, as the latter does not necessarily involve espionage but often collates information from open sources.
To achieve its goal of becoming a superpower, China applies four distinct forms of espionage: traditional espionage, military espionage, cyber espionage, and technological espionage applies four distinct forms of espionage. These are traditional espionage, and military espionage.
Traditional Espionage
In recent years, Beijing has been trying to infiltrate sensitive political circles worldwide and gain influence in Western democracies by influencing governments and everyday politics. In April 2024, an aide to the AfD’s lead candidate in the European elections was arrested in Dresden for spying for China, while there were three other arrests of alleged Beijing informants. At the same time there were allegations of espionage in the UK and Chinese meddling in Canadian elections.
Military Espionage
In November 2024 German authorities arrested a US citizen suspected of giving information to China about the US military. The arrested man allegedly had access to this information while working at military bases based in Germany. In December last year, there was a second case within German borders. A Chinese national has been arrested near a German Armed Forces Naval Base in Kiel for taking pictures. The investigation was carried out by the Schleswig-Holstein Crime Bureau in cooperation with the federal military counterintelligence agency (BAMAD), which in its latest report noted that “the interest of the people’s Republic of China in information about the Bundeswehr remains high.” “China aspires to be the world’s economic and military leader by 2049, and to achieve this goal, it will use cyber espionage, hybrid and classic espionage.”
Cyber-espionage
In October 2024, a month before the U.S. election, according to reports, Chinese hackers breached U.S. communications networks, targeting data from phones used by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his vice president, Senator Jr. NT. Vance. At the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that there had been a security breach by Chinese hackers at nine major telecommunications companies (including AT&T and Verizon) and services in the U.S., who managed to gain access to employees ‘ workstations and some non-secret documents, in a series of cyberattacks carried out in recent months against targets in the U.S. and other Western countries, actions of course categorically denied by Beijing.
The US has imposed sanctions on Chinese Integrity Technology Group, accusing it of being behind a hacking group known as “Flax Typhoon.” According to State Department Integrity Tech it was operating as a Chinese government contractor with ties to the Ministry of State Security and that its hackers were working in Beijing’s direction to target critical infrastructure in the U.S. and abroad.
Technological Espionage
Beijing aims to break free from foreign technology and become a global power in high technology. In order to attract international know-how and transfer state-of-the-art technology, it strengthens partnerships with academic institutions and high-tech enterprises in the West. Since 2015, the people’s Republic of China (PRC) has been actively developing “offshore talent innovation and entrepreneurship bases abroad”. As of 2024, there are 30 such bases strategically located in high-tech development zones across China, which are designed to partner with leading global universities, research institutes and multinational companies, positioning China as a center of technological progress.
In recent years, however, many European and American universities and research institutions have banned students from China for national security reasons. The reason is that Beijing is using students to gain access to programs linked to sensitive technologies, including defense and semiconductors.
Chinese students involved in research work that could have potential military applications were also encouraged to share their research work, in areas such as hypersonic technology, nuclear weapons and quantum supercomputers, with the Chinese competent authorities.
Conclusion
China’s strategy to become a dominant superpower on the planet goes through espionage. Beijing uses four forms of espionage-traditional, military, cyber espionage and technological espionage-to achieve its goals.
Source: Geopolitico.gr
