The Wall Street Journal published a very important story over the weekend, exposing another element of the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to infiltrate the United States. Americans may be too busy squabbling about domestic politics to notice or care, but the external threat of an aggressive, meddling China is enormous. We know that the Chinese government engages in mass-scale intellectual property theft, bullies dissident Chinese nationals on our soil, operates secret 'police stations' inside the US, runs major influence operations on American campuses, and exploits greed to push Hollywood around. It's unclear whether they're behind projects like this, but Congress is asking questions for good reason.
That's just here at home. Abroad, of course, the regime refuses to be honest about its ongoing genocide against the Uyghur population, executed a COVID origins cover-up, persecutes religious minorities, is crushing democracy in Hong Kong, and is operating with military belligerence in the region. This is all in addition to its wide-reaching economic diplomacy/blackmail campaign around the globe. And they're actively spying on us and our allies -- and are probing for security weaknesses:
Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have accessed military bases and other sensitive sites in the U.S. as many as 100 times in recent years, according to U.S. officials, who describe the incidents as a potential espionage threat. The Defense Department, FBI and other agencies held a review last year to try to limit these incidents, which involve people whom officials have dubbed gate-crashers because of their attempts—either by accident or intentionally—to get onto U.S. military bases and other installations without proper authorization. They range from Chinese nationals found crossing into a U.S. missile range in New Mexico to what appeared to be scuba divers swimming in murky waters near a U.S. government rocket-launch site in Florida. The incidents, which U.S. officials describe as a form of espionage, appear designed to test security practices at U.S. military installations and other federal sites. Officials familiar with the practice say the individuals are typically Chinese nationals pressed into service and required to report back to the Chinese government.
These revelations come on the heels of the Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year. The CCP is issuing characteristically indignant denials, but there's no reason to believe them. "The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications,” a Chinese embassy spokesperson told the Journal. “We urge the relevant U.S. officials to abandon the Cold War mentality, stop groundless accusations." Boilerplate nonsense. Former US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien -- who was instrumental in freeing US citizens held captive abroad, and in leading American efforts to undercut the CCP's project to export their telecommunications technology -- says the federal government must take these attempted breaches very seriously:
The gate crashers should be arrested immediately & at a minimum be traded for scores of innocent Americans detained in China under its exit visa bans! @jrezaian @joshrogin @FreeXiyueWang @samrgoodwin @ProfHughDugan https://t.co/8Zjtt7OvVV
— Robert C. O'Brien (@robertcobrien) September 4, 2023
Meanwhile, Beijing is cracking down on potential espionage targeting the regime, incentivizing its citizens to inform on each other:
China’s new counterespionage law, which has been on the books for just a few months, is moving forward at a pace as Beijing weaponizes its citizens to report on suspected cases of foreign agents and Western spy networks – even offering big cash rewards for successful tips...According to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the new law expands "the definition of espionage from covering state secrets and intelligence to any documents, data, materials, or items related to national security interests, without defining terms." The law also "broadens the scope of the PRC’s [People's Republic of China] counterespionage law."...China's intelligence, security and secret police agency, the Ministry of State Security, has called on its citizens to actively defend the county against espionage efforts. Chinese officials opened a WeChat account that has a "reporting" button and features articles on how to warn authorities about national security threats, with one report blaming Washington for "hyping up the China threat" narrative. Other articles cover cases that involve espionage by the U.S.
Authoritarian paranoia is a dangerous thing. It's even more dangerous coming from a regime that has been regularly hacking Americans' data -- or just scooping it up with permission, with the ability to weaponize information or filter propaganda into the social media feeds of millions of young Americans. Amid all of this, any number of US institutions and organizations continue to treat the CCP like it's a normal foreign government:
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The Mets honored hardliner CCP diplomat Huang Ping, who threw the first pitch at last night’s game.
— Jimmy Quinn (@james_t_quinn) September 2, 2023
Huang was there as part of “An Evening of Chinese Culture”—the annual event that the Mets co-host with a CCP-linked nonprofit. Judging by these pics, looks like Huang had a blast. pic.twitter.com/nZDEcCi17h
Do the Mets endorse whitewashing systematic oppression? Because that's who they chose to honor. Finally, what happens if the Chinese economy really begins to falter? There's data pointing in that direction, in addition to anecdotal evidence like this:
The report that air freight loads from #China are half of what they used to be suggests that the factory sector is ailing far more than PMI numbers indicate. https://t.co/7fms6qHAgo
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) September 4, 2023
