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I have posted quite a few blog items on China's espionage operations in the U.S. and elsewhere. Each time, I must confess, I have this nagging feeling that the "cloak and dagger" posts and stories seem too sensational... fiction... too Robert Ludlum (spy novel author). My point in this trade-related blog is that "trade policy" usually trumps, but should not trump, other national policies like national security. Some of my Chinese spying posts cite from obscure publications like The Epoch Times, an online newspaper I cited here. And Bill Kauffman, a University of Michigan professor, has been very active in pointing out student spying risks at his university. I respect Kauffman's bravery and intelligence as a whistleblower in fighting the battle against the university that is profiting from the Chinese government apparently paying full tuition (a big sum there) for many, many students to attend school in Ann Arbor. But most whistleblowers are viewed as gadflies, and not taken seriously. If you meet Kauffman, you must take him seriously. But one can be accused of "China bashing"... an accusation that detracts from the issue... an often effective claim to divert attention from the problem. China has had its share of problems. The colonial era was not good for the country. Internal dictatorships have oppressed, and continue to oppress, its people. Good people.
But the current Chinese government is spying on the U.S. Period. It probaby operates the most sophisticated and effective spying operation in the world. NPR reports on it, as does the Times of London. The US FBI chief testifies about it. Yet our defense and technology companies scramble to sell their sophisticated stuff to China and other countries. And the Washington Post reports on it. For example, today's article is frightening... featuring the details and context surrounding a recent conviction of a Chinese sleeper agent employed by a U.S. defense contractor. The individual story is this: Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night.
Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s. But this is not a "one bad apple case." This is the context. The Chinese government, in an enterprise that one senior official likened to an "intellectual vacuum cleaner," has deployed a diverse network of professional spies, students, scientists and others to systematically collect U.S. know-how, the officials said. Some are trained in modern electronic techniques for snooping on wireless computer transactions. Others, such as Mak, are technical experts who have been in place for years and have blended into their communities.
"Chi Mak acknowledged that he had been placed in the United States more than 20 years earlier, in order to burrow into the defense-industrial establishment to steal secrets," Joel Brenner, the head of counterintelligence for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in an interview. "It speaks of deep patience," he said, and is part of a pattern. China's official response? Calls placed to the Chinese Embassy in Washington requesting comment on recent spy cases were not returned. But Chinese officials have repeatedly denied that their country is stealing military technology. "We have reiterated many times that allegations that China stole U.S. military secrets are groundless and made out of ulterior motives," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a recent news conference in Beijing, commenting on the Mak case.
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