Spy Balloons May Grab Headlines, But China Has Far More Subtle And Effective Methods Of Spying On Us

Americans breathed an exhale of relief after the U.S. Air Force brought down a Chinese spy satellite off the coast South Carolina on February 4. After being first seen in Montana, the balloon had travelled almost all across the country.

Because the debris could cause collateral harm to civilians below, the Biden administration decided not to shoot the balloon down while it was above land. The U.S. began quickly to remove the debris from the craft in order to determine what type of technology it contained.

Since the downing of China’s would-be instrument of high-altitude espionage, several more strange craft have been spotted and downed over America’s skies. U.S. intelligence personnel have The communist country used the balloon to spy on military bases in Japan and India. President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. does not believe that these additional objects are part of China’s spy program, but apprehension about China’s attempts to spy on the United States has come to the forefront of the national consciousness.

In reality, however, the CCP used far more sophisticated and subtle methods to extract information from Americans than just simple balloons.

The CCP’s favorite tactic in the ongoing economic war with the United States is corporate espionage. There were 160 instances of Chinese spying since 2000. 51% attempted to steal American technology. This compares to 34% that attempted to acquire military tech, and 16% that attempted information on politicians or government agencies. According To the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Chinese spy spies were caught trying to smuggle data from pharmaceuticals to nanotechnology back to the CCP. According BBC. These espionage efforts also include some of the largest companies in the U.S. — a Chinese national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January for trying to steal information about jet turbines from General Electric.

Christopher Wray, FBI Director, was present at a London meeting to discuss the threat from Chinese spy programs. Chinese companies had paid law enforcement to catch people trying to steal genetically engineered seeds from farms in rural areas. Chinese agents could steal intellectual property from the United States and cost them up to $600billion a year. According To a report by the National Bureau of Asian Research.

Chinese agents and associates have also managed infiltrate American universities, laboratories and other institutions to steal valuable research.

The U.S. will be a major economic power in 2020 Cancelled Due to fears that they might have ties to China, over 1000 visas were issued to Chinese students and researchers attending American universities.

China’s Thousand Talents Program, which aims to partner with leading foreign researchers, has been accused of facilitating the theft of research. Between 1987 and 2021, over 160 researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s top locations for nuclear research, returned to China, with dozens returning under the Thousand Talents program. Those researchers went on. “advance key military and dual-use technologies in areas such as hypersonics, deep-earth penetrating warheads, unmanned aerial vehicles, jet engines, and submarine noise reduction,” A Report Strider Technologies.

CSIS estimates that more than a quarter of Chinese espionage scheme perpetrators are non-Chinese agents.

Charles Lieber, the former head of Harvard University’s Chemistry Department, was found guilty In December 2021, Lieber was accused of concealing his connections to the Thousand Talents program. Lieber received $50,000 per month from Wuhan University of Technology for his participation in the program. He also received $1.5 million in grants which he did not disclose. Prosecutors claimed Lieber submitted patent applications and wrote articles for the Chinese university.

Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy, enrolled at an American college. She allegedly formed sexual relationships with two Midwestern mayors between 2011 and 2015. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic Representative, was one of her main targets. She helped fundraise for his 2014 re-election campaign as well as place an intern in Swalwell’s office, sources told Axios.

Fang’s behavior caught the attention of federal law enforcement, and the congressman severed ties with her after they gave him a briefing on their findings. Fang fled the country before the investigation was completed in 2015.

Swalwell’s office told the outlet that he “provided information about this person — whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasn’t seen in nearly six years — to the FBI.”

Though Swalwell’s alleged association with Fang has become a meme among conservatives, intelligence officials are concerned that it’s part of a larger effort to cultivate influence among U.S. politicians.

“She was just one of lots of agents,” A intelligence official Telled Axios. The FBI Created a unit

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