Spying for the CCP: A New Era of Confrontation

 

Chinese Spy Sentenced in the US

A Chinese Intelligence officer was sentenced to 20 years for trying to steal proprietary information. It’s an important case because it’s the first time a Chinese citizen has been extradited to the US. I’m not sure how all the diplomatic/legal back and forth play out. 

Xu was convicted last year; this year we finally got the sentencing part of it. The FBI has been aware of his ‘fishing expeditions’ since 2013.

He was arrested in Belgium. The FBI had been monitoring his communications with a former GE employee. Xu wanted information on GE’s composite aircraft fan that no one has been able to replicate. That’s only his latest episode, the crime they actually got him for. Using various aliases, he sought out current and former employees of aviation companies and paid them to come to China for university talks. The junkets were paid for by Xu, with the intention of capturing as much technical information as possible.

The GE employee convinced him to come to Belgium for a trade show. It was here the illegal exchange happened, Xu asked for a digital company manual. 

He is set to do 20 years. How high up was this guy on a spy grade anyway?

If he’s a foot soldier it’s likely Beijing takes the loss and moves on. If he’s a high ranking official they’ll want him back and probably offer trades to get him. I wonder how it works on a diplomatic level though. Do we trade spies or offer up some other deal? Like waving certain legal cases currently on the docket at the WTO (World Trade Organization)? The US and China both sue each other all the time at the WTO. Part of signing the agreements to engage in trade requires recognizing the legitimacy of the court. But that’s small potatoes stuff, breaking tariff agreements and dumping complaints. Stealing technological trade secrets is serious business that requires old fashioned diplomacy.

Xu worked for the Ministry of State Security (MSS) which is responsible for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence. It will be interesting to see if Beijing arrests American foreigners for the similar crimes. It’s not unusual for them to do this anyway. Apparently the case against Xu is very strong. These cases are always so murky. When you extradite a foreign national you better have a damn good reason for it, especially one working for the government. Hopefully the blowback isn’t too severe on Americans living and working in China.

This story caught my eye because of the increasing amount of spying happening from the CCP every year. Americans are starting to get a sense for how the Chinese government operates but it’s taken a long time. I think we were all naïve in the late nineties about their goals. I certainly was. I believed prosperity through private business and foreign capital could raise the living standards. And, that prosperity would create an ownership society, laws to protect capital and free (ish) markets. It looks now like that was a ruse from Big Business to open factories and save money. No one believes the ‘wealth leads to freedom’ campaign anymore.

The problem is the US can’t just decouple in one swoop. At the very least, our federal and state laws need to take a skeptical approach to all Chinese investment. They don’t take our companies there without forcing local partners on them that steal their data and intellectual property. American companies with a presence in China will be expected to give up any useful, legally protected R&D. I’m not opposed to free markets either. But we should only be free with those countries that reciprocate.

No matter how many of these spy stories pop up our feeds I wonder how many people think it’s a big deal. Intellectual property theft between businesses in the same country is bad enough. But losing IP to a foreign country, especially one that sees itself as an enemy could be devastating. Not just devastating because our industries will no longer compete, cutting edge R&D often determines what kind of military your country will have. If we don’t stay on top and protect our critical industries, we will lose out to a more powerful China.

We are very close to being there. Our navy is getting chased out of the South China Sea. Beijing is collecting allies in the region and using ASEAN to support its claims about the ridiculous nine dash line. Eventually the US will get pushed out, unable to keep its hegemony in the region. But we can stop helping Beijing. 

Keep arresting spies, and make it as public as possible.