On behalf of The Chinese technology suppliers, the Chinese spies desired and requested more tech to surveil American diplomats, military officers, and other intelligence operatives in the restricted embassy area of Beijing. They proposed feeding confidential data from wide databases and multitudes of cameras, including car number plates, access to cell phone data, contacts, and more, to generate artificial intelligence-based profiles for the Chinese spies to select targets, and zero on their networks and weaknesses.
This interest in China reveals the enormous ambitions of their main spy agency, called the Ministry of State Security. They have been increasingly recruiting not only American citizens, but also advanced technologies. The main goal for the Chinese leader was to transform his nation into the strongest economic and military power in the world, capable of rivaling even the United States. Today, the Chinese agency has its wish fulfilled, as the AI system tracks American spies and various other targets. Trade secrets in the emerging technology sector are now considered equally valuable in terms of espionage as military intelligence and similar forms of vital information.
The U.S. intelligence has been doubling its investment in observing Chinese companies and their technological development under the Biden administration, while the C.I.A in China on the contrary did not put many resources into gathering detailed information on technological advances in commerce. The Ministry’s head, Chen Wenqing, went on to be appointed as the party’s top security official with an expanded power, while his replacement seems to be following his lead. So far, the Ministry has been escalating their intelligence collection on American companies. These efforts were not unnoticed as they led to the capture of some Chinese citizens acting as spies for the U.S. The M.S.S. has its defensive and offensive roles combined, as it is assigned with carrying out intelligence collection and operations overseas, while limiting foreign influence within China. In October 2022, the central Chinese government named Minister Chen Wenqing as the party’s top security official, and a member of the 24-member Politburo. He has been promoting and emphasizing loyalty to Mr. Xi Jinping. The Ministry has been conducting aggressive activities overseas like recruiting individuals, and even attempted to possibly attack some candidates for U.S. Congress.
