** **

Are Chinese Sleeper Espionage Cells Active in America?****

http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2012/10/are-chinese-sleeper-espionage-cells-active-in-america/
****

** **

** **

** **

China’s Military Intelligence has placed, ‘fish at the bottom of the****

ocean’ (Chen di yu). These are individuals recruited as espionage agents****

who will not be activated until a later date (1).****

** **

This past week, two separate incidences serve to remind us that the US is***
*

under attack from China.****

** **

With their economy slowing down, Beijing will do whatever it takes to****

maintain growth, even it if means stealing US know-how and tech in order to*
***

achieve this. (2)(3)****

** **

Beijing knows that despite recent pushes to enhance indigenous innovation,**
**

successes have been few and far between. In order to fill the innovation****

gap, the Chinese have turned to stealing from foreign firms and countries.**
**

** **

As a matter of fact, the Chinese have stolen so much technology from the US*
***

that it has been called the greatest transfer of wealth in history (4). And*
***

a large part of the problem is that the Chinese government has gotten deeply
****

into the business of stealing economic secrets, ultimately to be used****

against the US (5).****

** **

Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of***
*

economic espionage (6).****

** **

Chinese Sleeper Cells Discovered****

** **

In what can only be described as disturbing, two weeks ago, two Chinese****

nationals were caught playing their part in China’s sleeper cell of****

espionage.****

** **

What is more troubling than this is that one of the two, Sixing Liu, was a**
**

naturalized US citizen now living in New Jersey. Mr Liu was convicted of****

stealing files related to military technology from a defense contractor, and
****

illegally selling them to China (7).****

** **

The files he had stolen contained secrets regarding performance and design**
**

of guidance systems for missiles, rockets and unnamed aircraft (8).****

** **

Apparently, Mr Liu saw nothing wrong with selling this information about US*
***

military hardware to his home country - China. The other Chinese national***
*

was Ming Suan Zhang, who was attempting to export thousands of pounds of****

aerospace grade carbon fiber to be used in China’s next generation fighter.*
***

** **

Both actions are punishable under laws protecting, “Military potential or***
*

nuclear proliferation of other nations or that could be detrimental to the**
**

foreign policy or national security of the U.S.” (9)(10)****

** **

The dual arrests signal an alarming increase in the incidence of Chinese****

nationals and Chinese immigrants stealing US trade secrets and technology***
*

and selling them to China. Things have gotten so bad that the US government*
***

has established a new anti-espionage task force specifically for the Chinese
****

and Iranian threat.****

** **

chinese sleeper cells****

Whats up with Chinese spying on the US?****

** **

It’s not as if the Chinese are only spying and thieving from the US. In****

that regard, they are agnostic.****

** **

Any and all forms of know-how they lack is in their gun sights, and the****

country of origin does not matter. The problem is that the US tends to be a*
***

leader of technology and development across many fields and thus we tend to*
***

be a primary target of communist China.****

** **

More troublesome, however, is that the Chinese see the US as a potential****

adversary. The Chinese take a long term view of warfare and are preparing***
*

themselves. Who better to attack with espionage than the worlds biggest****

military power?****

** **

While our businesses rush into China to make a buck, the Chinese are****

stealing us blind. Aside from the loss in profits at the hands of the****

Chinese, theft by that country is also compromising US national security as*
***

well.****

** **

And much of that theft is not cloak and dagger stuff of 007, but it is from*
***

Chinese nationals working for US firms who have been turned into spies or***
*

sell our secrets in promise of a lucrative payout back in China.****

** **

To them, the value of security to the country that has been good enough to**
**

sponsor them with a green card, is not worth as much as the loyalty they****

have to the motherland-China. The good news for China is that in the last***
*

year alone, the US granted over 70,000 green cards to Chinese nationals.****

** **

Of course we can assume that not all of those people have the desire to sell
****

out American secrets, but then again, even if the Communist party can turn**
**

5% of them, that would be 3,500 extra Chinese each year looking to pilfer US
****

secrets.****

** **

china sleeper cells****

We Open Trade to China and We Lose****

** **

By the numbers.****

** **

Before you consider this just some piece of yellow journalism, consider the*
***

following:****

** **

- Since 2000, the US government brought over 115 prosecutions alleging theft
****

of trade secrets and over 80% of those cases which involved governmental****

entities were traced back to China****

** **

- In 2010, almost 90% of all such cases had a link to China.****

** **

- In those cases, which were not directly linked to the Chinese government,*
***

a high percentage were linked to Chinese companies. The Chinese are going***
*

after the most advanced secrets the US has to offer.****

** **

- In 2011, the highest number of Chinese espionage cases ever was recorded**
**

and it spanned a wide spectrum of technological interests****

** **

- Since 2008, at least seven cases have been persecuted each year against***
*

individuals spying for China.****

** **

-In 2007 alone, there were five cases of individuals spying for China.****

** **

Remember the cases in the opening of this article? Those are typical of what
****

is happening with Chinese espionage today.****

** **

In the espionage cases tried last year, 10 of the 11 cases were against****

Chinese nationals. These Chinese, whether in the US on a work permit or****

naturalized citizens, had decided to steal and sell US trade secrets for a**
**

profit.****

** **

It is widely known that the Chinese Intelligence bureau seeks out ethnic****

Chinese to do their dirty work.****

** **

The reason is that Chinese can be tribal and tend not to trust outsiders.***
*

The Chinese Communists can also leverage a shared sense of ‘us against the**
**

world’ and appeal to the Chinese immigrant’s sense of their****

‘Chinese-ness’ and loyalty.****

** **

china espionage****

Turning the Chinese Into Spies****

** **

The Communist MSS11 (CIA-like arm of the Chinese government) has many tools*
***

at its disposal for turning a Chinese national into a spy.****

** **

When doing so, the MSS and communists primarily rely on two different****

approaches. They first appeal to the Chinese heritage, which exploits not***
*

only the sentimental feeling of ethnic pride, but also the need to protect**
**

China from ‘foreign invaders’. (12)****

** **

The second method they utilize is coercion. Most of those first generation**
**

Chinese still have family back in the Chinese mainland. The Communists****

threaten that harm could come to the emigrant’s family if they were not to**
**

help the ‘motherland’. (13) (14)****

** **

The Chinese Communists begin the spy recruitment process early. Remember****

that there are 70,000 Chinese who received green cards? Well add to that****

160,000 Chinese who are studying as well. Chinese students are perhaps the**
**

most sought after group of the MSS.****

** **

The Chinese are old hands at the spy game and very patient. They know that**
**

many students will not be turned into spies over night. They also know that*
***

with the proper prodding, a student’s mind can be ‘opened’ to the need to***
*

protect China.****

** **

It is this proactive approach in targeting Chinese college students in the**
**

US that is of concern to the US government.****

** **

The reasons for targeting US-bound students are many. Not the least of****

which, however, is the fact that younger people tend to be more idealistic.*
***

This is true in the case of China, but there are other issues at play as****

well.****

** **

Those Chinese attending college in the US have not seen the horrific actions
****

of the Communist party play out as have those in their 30′s and above. The**
**

younger Chinese have only heard a sanitized version of the Tienanmen****

massacre of 1989 if they have heard of it at all (15).****

** **

In addition, this privileged group of one-child policy children have been***
*

under the constant influence of ramped up Communist party propaganda,****

spurred on by events such as the Olympics and economic growth.****

** **

For these youths, the realities of communist China’s past remain a mystery.*
***

** **

Next week: The Making of a Chinese Spy****

** **

** **

References & Image Credits:****

(1) Chinese Intelligence Operations, Nicholas Eftimiades****

(2) CNBC****

(3) Chinese Intelligence Operations, Nicholas Eftimiades****

(4) Forbes.com****

(5) CNBC****

(6) Forbes.com****

(7) Businessweek.com****

(8) id.****

(9) id.****

(10) The New Jersey case is U.S. v. Liu, 2:11-cr-00208, U.S. District Court,
****

District of New Jersey (Newark).****

The New York case is U.S. v. Zhang, 12-mj-00829, U.S. District Court,****

Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).****

(11) Wikipedia****

(12) Chinese Intelligence Operations, Nicholas Eftimiades****

(13) Chinese Intelligence Operations, Nicholas Eftimiades****

(14) Mainland Chinese typically refer to China as ‘The Motherland’****

(15) It never ceases to amaze me how few Chinese who are 27 and under have**
**

heard of the massacre.****

(16) UPI.com****

** **

** **

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