On October 24, the Department of Justice, United States, unsealed a federal indictment charging four Chinese nationals including three Ministry of State Security (MSS) intelligence officers for acting as agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The four Chinese nationals identified as Wang Lin, Bi Hongwei, Dong Ting, aka Chelsea Dong, and Wang Qiang allegedly engaged in efforts to target and recruit individuals for the Chinese government in the US.

As per the DOJ’s press release, these recruits would provide information, materials, equipment, and assistance to the Chinese government to fulfill PRC’s intelligence objectives. These four agents targeted professors at universities, former federal law enforcement officials, state homeland security officials, and several others on behalf of the Chinese government.

US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and National Security Division Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen informed via a press release that these MSS intelligence officers used a purported academic institute at the Ocean University of China which is also known as the Institute for International Studies (IIS) to cover the tracks of intelligence activities.

Wang Lin and other MSS operatives posed as academics at the IIS to target professors at American Universities and others in the US to gain access to sensitive equipment and information. US Attorney Sellinger said, “This indictment drives home the fact that the intelligence risk posed by MSS continues to be real, ever-present, and significant. Everyone in the United States – and especially those in the academic, business, military, or government positions that have access to sensitive information or equipment – should take heed of the risk that the MSS poses to our democracy and way of life.”

Special Agent in Charge James Dennehy said, “These defendants cloaked themselves and their motives in order to get access to our higher learning institutions and recruit others to betray this nation. All intended to give China a leg up. The FBI would never let that happen. The safety of the citizens of the United States and the security of our nation are our top priorities. When foreign adversaries threaten either of those two things – whether on our soil or from another country; whether in-person or through cyber channels – we will use every resource at our disposal to uncover their espionage, thwart their malign influence, and bring them to justice.”

Details of indictment

The indictment mentioned that the threat posed by PRC’s ongoing, wide-ranging, and systematic effort to gain access to intelligence information using sources in the US is “significant and ongoing”. MSS, which is China’s civilian intelligence agency, is responsible for conducting foreign intelligence activities and counterintelligence along with political security for the PRC.

It read, “The MSS and its regional bureaus focus on identifying and influencing the foreign policy of other countries, including the United States, by seeking to obtain information on political, economic, and security policies that might affect the PRC, along with military, scientific, and technical information of value to the PRC.”

“The MSS and its regional bureaus are tasked with conducting clandestine and covert human source operations, of which the United States was and remains a principal target. Chinese intelligence services, including the MSS, utilize a variety of state ministries, societies, academic institutions, and the Chinese military-industrial complex to support intelligence activities, including providing cover jobs to operatives. The investigation revealed that the defendants used one such purported academic institution – the IIS – as cover for their intelligence activities for the MSS,” it added.

The indictment mentioned that an individual was invited to China on all-expense-paid trips in 2008 and 2018. During those trips, Wang Lin, Dong and others tried to recruit the individual as a human source to gain access to information, sensitive fingerprint technology and assistance to stop planned protests along the 2008 Olympic Games torch route in the US. The conspirators expressed that such protests would be “embarrassing” to China.

They also requested the individual to sign a contract to pose as if he was providing consultancy services to a Chinese company whose core value was the “national interest and national security” of China, with an objective to “protect the national interest and Chinese enterprises’ overseas interest[s]” and to “build sources and channels to collect security information.”

The individual realized that they were Chinese intelligence officers and refused to provide any support to them. The individual reported them to law enforcement agencies in the US.

Furthermore, it was mentioned that in 2016, Wang Quang coordinated a meeting in 2016 between the co-conspirator, Wang Lin and Bi Hongwei in the Bahamas. MSS intelligence officers Wang Lin and Bi directed the co-conspirator to arrange US currency and provide it to an individual in New Jersey. The task was completed by the co-conspirator. Later Quang visited the co-conspirator in NJ and discussed the intelligence operations in the US in detail.

All the accused have been charged with conspiracy to act in the United States as agents of the People’s Republic of China without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States. The charge carries a maximum prison term of five years and a maximum fine of $250,000.

“The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” read the press release.

China’s intelligence operations on foreign lands

This is not the first time China has been accused of spying on officials in a foreign land or attempting to recruit people for intelligence services. In July 2021, four Chinese nationals were charged in the US in a China-backed global espionage campaign, targeting dozens of companies, universities, and government agencies in the US and at least 11 other countries, between July 2009 to September 2018.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the cyber theft was of “significant economic benefit to China’s companies and commercial sectors.” Accused Ding Xiaoyang, Cheng Qingmin, Zhu Yunmin, and Wu Shurong were working with the sole motive, according to court documents, which is installing malware on protected computers and stealing the data on the computers. As alleged, the accused MSS officers coordinated with staff and professors at various universities in Hainan and elsewhere in China to further the conspiracy’s goals.

In February 2021, the intelligence agencies of three nations, Finland, Canada and the Netherlands, raised concerns over the Chinese espionage attack on governments, companies and universities. All three countries have said on separate occasions that collaborating with China can be dangerous for national security. The attacks may cover several sectors, including banking, energy and infrastructure.

As per the latest threat assessment issued by intelligence services AIVD, MIVD, and NCTV, the universities and other knowledge institutes in the Netherlands are not only under threat of cyber-attacks, but the Chinese researchers, PhD candidates and students in these institutes may be working as spies for China.

The report suggested that collaborating with China poses a threat to national security and prosperity in different ways. It further added that China might target companies and knowledge institutes in the Netherlands to gather high-value knowledge and technology that it can use for its own economic, political and military gains.

In December 2020, it was reported that the Chinese nationals studying at Harvard and Princeton universities would be using code names to shield their identities as a protection measure against surveillance by China’s Communist government. The university classes will also carry warning labels such as “This course may cover material considered politically sensitive by China”. Lately, it has been revealed how the Communist Party of China has funneled a massive amount of money into ivy league US universities including Stanford, and Harvard in an effort to infiltrate these research institutes.

It was also revealed that Harvard and Stanford were funded by the Chinese government. Over a billion dollars were pumped by China into US Universities.

In June 2020, it was reported that China was aggressively scaling up its non-traditional espionage activities across the world. The report states that the scale of the spy rings operated by China is unprecedented and is much larger than that of the cold war era. It also claims that the Chinese spy rings include people from all professions—journalists, policymakers, political leaders, researchers and many others.