BEIJING is waging a secret war against the West using honeypot spies, land-grabbing ships and data hacks in a bid to overthrow the world order.<\/p>\n
For years, the West has watched anxiously as China has ramped up the size of its military \u2013 from dozens of new warships to menace Taiwan, to hundreds of nuclear silos in the desert.<\/p>\n
But while world leaders wait to see what Xi Jinping intends to do with his new armies, Beijing is already waging a war right under their noses.<\/p>\n
A new report has laid bare the \u201cunprecedented\u201d scale of this political warfare \u2013 and warned it poses a real and growing threat to America and its allies.<\/p>\n
Seth Jones, report author and Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank expert, said: \u201cIn our interviews with the FBI, they said\u2026 this is the most aggressive period they have ever seen of Chinese activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne official said to us: \u2018The system is blinking red right now\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geopolitical strategist and Atlantic Council fellow Alp Sevimlisoy also warned the \u201cthreat is getting more and more serious day by day\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that we realise that China is a threat, not a challenger or competitor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA challenge or a competitor seeks to play on the same playing field as you and win playing by the rules. In China\u2019s case, it seeks to undermine us and our unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
From land-grabbing drill ships, data hacks and AI, to a shadowy intimidation campaign code-named Operation Fox Hunt, here is how Beijing is working to overthrow the West.<\/p>\n
Cyber attacks
\nPerhaps China\u2019s most-successful under-the-radar activity has been its cyber attacks \u2013 which are thought to steal company secrets worth some $600billion each year.<\/p>\n
But less-well-know and arguably more successful has been its hacks of personal data.<\/p>\n
According to CSIS researchers, since 2014 the Chinese have stolen data on an estimated 80 per cent of Americans.<\/p>\n
This was accomplished with large-scale breaches of companies including Starwood Hotels from which they stole reservation, credit card, passport and other information covering roughly 500million people.<\/p>\n
Credit agency Equifax, the Office of Personal Management, and health insurer Anthem were also hacked and together yielded data on another 248million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis repeated collection of vast amounts of data means that Beijing knows more about Americans than Americans likely know about themselves,\u201d CSIS said.<\/p>\n
And what exactly China does with all that data isn\u2019t clear, but the possibilities are troubling.<\/p>\n
Researchers believe patterns in the hotel booking data could help Beijing identify trips by high-profile individuals in the future \u2013 including where they are staying.<\/p>\n
In our interviews with the FBI\u2026 this is the most aggressive period they have ever seen of Chinese activity
\nSeth Jones<\/p>\n
And the fact they seem to have prioritised stealing vast quantities of data \u2013 rather than specific data \u2013 suggests they are also using it to train artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
That AI could then be used to benefit China \u2013 for example using stolen medical data to recognise illnesses \u2013 or attack its adversaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cTikTok\u2019s data-gathering capability reveals what media Americans find most engaging and what kinds of messages are most effective, which enables China to develop compelling messages that serve China\u2019s larger interests,\u201d the CSIS report says.<\/p>\n
Even more worryingly, researchers raise the prospect that Beijing \u201cappears poised to use cyber operations for real-world effects, including attacks that could endanger lives\u201d.<\/p>\n
That includes cyber attacks that could threaten gas and oil pipelines \u2013 such as the one that crippled the Colonial Pipeline back in 2021.<\/p>\n
The attack shut down the oil pipe which supplies more than half the gasoline used on the US East Coast \u2013 and was thought to be carried out by a group based in Russia.<\/p>\n
CSIS notes that \u201cChina\u2019s growing sophistication and increasing aggressiveness in its campaigns mean it can compete effectively with the United States and Russia, from penetrating defence contractors to holding critical infrastructure at risk\u201d.<\/p>\n
Land-grabbing ships
\nThe fact that China has built military islands in the South China Sea is hardly a secret.<\/p>\n
Clearly visible by satellite, they are bristling with airfields and missile batteries.<\/p>\n
But lesser known are the two huge drill ships used to build the islands in the first place, and which are now being used to literally steal land from US ally Taiwan.<\/p>\n
The Tian Kun Hao is 460ft long, weighs 2,800 tons and was dubbed by its creators the \u201cmagical island maker\u201d.<\/p>\n
It works by lowering a cutting disc up to 115ft underwater where it chews up sand, clay and rock at a rate of 6,000 cubic metres \u2013 a little over two Olympic swimming pools \u2013 per hour.<\/p>\n
Alongside its sister ship the Tian Jing Hong, which is only marginally smaller at 420ft, and a fleet of smaller vessels \u2013 it is being sent into Taiwanese waters to literally seize land.<\/p>\n
Targeting the Penghu and Matsu Islands \u2013 located in the Taiwan strait \u2013 these vessels were caught illegally drilling sand and rock almost 4,000 times in 2020 alone.<\/p>\n
Researchers at CSIS believe the ships are gathering materials for the Chinese construction industry, but the fact they come to Taiwan to get it hints at a more sinister purpose.<\/p>\n
They believe the sheer scale of the incursions is designed to exhaust and over-extend the coast guard, which has to eject them each time they approach the islands.<\/p>\n
Which drags them away from other vital missions, such as monitoring Chinese warships which are increasingly sailing into Taiwan\u2019s defence zone.<\/p>\n
And they are not the only vessels harassing Western allies in the region. Beijing also maintains a fleet of militarised fishing vessels which it uses to bully its neighbours.<\/p>\n
The People\u2019s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) appears to be a collection of civilian fishing boats but in reality, CSIS says, they are paid by the Chinese government to assert its claims to disputed waters.<\/p>\n
Known as Beijing\u2019s \u201clittle blue men\u201d, the vessels recently helped the Chinese coast guard menace Philippines navy ships resupplying troops on the Second Thomas Shoal.<\/p>\n
Then, when the US, Japan and Australia announced joint navy drills in the area in response, hundreds of the fishing vessels gathered as a show-of-force.<\/p>\n
Though CSIS believes their primary role is intelligence-gathering and intimidation, the sabre-rattling has led to fears that China could arm them in the event of a conflict.<\/p>\n
But it is not just in waters close to China where Beijing is asserting its influence, it is also staking a claim hundreds of miles to the north in the Arctic.<\/p>\n
The Xue Long and Xue Long 2 \u2013 whose names mean Snow Dragon \u2013 are two polar \u2018research\u2019 which, via the Ministry of Natural Resources, report to the Communist Party.<\/p>\n
Despite being located hundreds of miles outside the Arctic Circle, China has designated itself a \u2018near-Arctic state\u2019 and now maintains a permanent presence there.<\/p>\n
The Xue Long vessels are used to supply its permanent bases \u2013 located in Svalbard and Iceland \u2013 but also to conduct \u2018research\u2019 missions closer to the pole.<\/p>\n
According to CSIS, one such mission in 2018 resulted in Xue Long placing China\u2019s first unmanned research station on the ice along with various types of observation equipment.<\/p>\n
These installations, CSIS believes, are ultimately designed for spying.<\/p>\n
The report says: \u201cChina\u2019s growing strategic emphasis on the Arctic stems from its perception of the region as yet another theatre for global competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina has used state-led research efforts to assert its presence in the Arctic and to establish sites capable of collecting intelligence on activities in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Trojan horse\u2019 traps
\nChina is the world\u2019s largest creditor, having doled out an astonishing $1.5trillion in loans and grants to more than 150 countries up to 2020.<\/p>\n
The method has been dubbed a Trojan horse \u2013 the argument being that China traps countries into a spiral of debt and takes over critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Billions have flowed into some of the world\u2019s poorest regions \u2013 Africa, the Caribbean, South America \u2013 with sometimes disastrous results, such as the rioting that rocked Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
The results have often been obvious \u2013 such as the Solomon Islands signing a defence pact with Beijing or Panama cutting ties with Taiwan \u2013 but the same tactics are being used far more subtly and far closer to home.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because China has also been buying up infrastructure in Europe and making in-roads into the US economy, raising fears it will try to use that position to get its own way.<\/p>\n
Which is exactly what Beijing did try to do in 2018 when Australia banned Huawei and ZTE from building the country\u2019s 5G networks.<\/p>\n
In that case, they retaliated by restricting the trade of coal, beef and wine \u2013 and while the move ultimately backfired, in Europe it could have serious knock-on effects.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because China owns stakes in a dozen critical ports including majority stakes in Piraeus Port in Greece, Valencia and Bilbao, in Spain, and Zeebrugge, in Belgium.<\/p>\n
This funding and financing\u2026 seeks to make Europe wholly dependent on China and to use that as a form of political bartering<\/p>\n
It also holds minority stakes in some of the continent\u2019s biggest ports, such as Antwerp and Hamburg, Germany\u2019s largest container port.<\/p>\n
China has also piled money into European airports, buying up 9.5 per cent of Heathrow Airport in 2013, 49.9 per cent of France\u2019s Toulouse Airport in 2014, and 82.5 per cent of Germany\u2019s Hahn airport.<\/p>\n
In Portugal, the state-controlled Three Gorges Corporation bought 20 per cent of the country\u2019s top power provider, which has a near-monopoly on home energy, and 25 per cent of the national grid.<\/p>\n
Threatening that infrastructure could cripple the continent economically and weaken its resolve to stand with the US in the event of a confrontation \u2013 for example over Taiwan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe European Union\u2019s largest trading partner is now China, an aspect we must be ready to counter as those of us who are part of NATO member nations,\u2019\u201d Mr Sevimlisoy added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis funding and financing, it doesn\u2019t seek to build up Europe \u2013 far from it \u2013 it seeks to make Europe wholly dependent on China and to use that as a form of political bartering.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope is a critical battleground, and we\u2019ve paid a huge price to protect it in the past. Are we willing to do what is necessary to protect it now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Spy networks
\nOverseen by the Ministry of State Security, which coordinates China\u2019s overseas intelligence operations, Beijing is thought to maintain huge networks of spies the world over.<\/p>\n
This is part of a \u201cthousand grains of sand\u201d approach that aims to piece together tiny and seemingly insignificant pieces of information from lots of sources into one big picture.<\/p>\n
In recent years, China has used LinkedIn as a recruitment tool for these spies \u2013 posting bogus adverts purporting to be from headhunters, consultants, think-tanks and academics as a way of luring people in.<\/p>\n
According to data reviewed by CSIS, there have been more than 10,000 such posts targeting those in the UK alone \u2013 and it appears Beijing has made infiltrating the UK parliament a priority.<\/p>\n
In March this year, police arrested a parliamentary researcher with links to prominent Tory MPs on suspicion of being a Chinese spy, though he denies the claims.<\/p>\n
And in January last year, MI5 issued a warning about lawyer Christine Ching Kui Lee who they accused of trying to influence politicians on behalf of China \u2013 though no criminal charges were brought.<\/p>\n
Rather than working for the Ministry of State Security \u2013 as three spies deported from the UK in 2020 were \u2013 Ms Lee was accused of working for the United Front Work Department (UFWD).<\/p>\n
The UFWD is part of Communist Party efforts to effectively co-opt the entire Chinese diaspora into its efforts to supplant the West.<\/p>\n
In December 2020 it emerged US Congressman Eric Swalwell had a relationship with suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang.<\/p>\n
Known as Fang Fang, she reportedly had sex with two mayors and targeted politicians to infiltrate US political circles.<\/p>\n
These tools are part of a broad strategy of political warfare<\/p>\n
CSIS Report
\nThe suspected spy targeted aspiring politicians from 2011 to 2015 and had a reported focus on Swalwell.<\/p>\n
Mao Zedong was one of the first to use the phrase \u201cunited front\u201d back in 1939 as he established dozens of organisations to exert control over the millions of Chinese who were not members of his party \u2013 to make them part of the \u201cunited front\u201d.<\/p>\n
Xi revitalised the concept when he took power in 2012 and CSIS says the scale of united front work is now \u201cmassive\u201d and cannot be fully accounted for.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Confucius Institutes established on many Western university campuses aim to influence debate, and donate to those same universities to influence how they are run.<\/p>\n
Students who expressed views critical of China or its policies report being harassed or intimidated by members of the institute, who threatened to report them to their embassy.<\/p>\n
The Chinese Ministry of Public Security also ran two secretive operations subbed Fox Hunt and Skynet.<\/p>\n
Researchers described it as \u201can effort to monitor, harass, and in some cases repatriate Chinese diaspora living abroad\u201d.<\/p>\n
Fox Hunt was uncovered earlier this year with the discovery of a network of \u201cpolice stations\u201d dotted across the world from which the operation was run \u2013 including one in Manhattan and one in London.<\/p>\n
Lesser-known is Operation Skynet, which the FBI says works in parallel to target the finances of Chinese citizens living overseas by seizing any funds they may have still tied up in the homeland.<\/p>\n
The report concludes: \u201cThese tools are part of a broad strategy of political warfare, which US diplomat George Kennan described as \u2018the employment of all the means at a nation\u2019s command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US public and other international audiences are often unaware of the full nature and scope of these activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with its partners, the United States now needs to develop a comprehensive approach to compete in this arena that is consistent with its democratic principles and values.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clock is ticking.\u201d<\/p>\n