THE SUN
BEIJING is waging a secret war against the West using honeypot spies, land-grabbing ships and data hacks in a bid to overthrow the world order.
For years, the West has watched anxiously as China has ramped up the size of its military – from dozens of new warships to menace Taiwan, to hundreds of nuclear silos in the desert.
But while world leaders wait to see what Xi Jinping intends to do with his new armies, Beijing is already waging a war right under their noses.
A new report has laid bare the “unprecedented” scale of this political warfare – and warned it poses a real and growing threat to America and its allies.
Seth Jones, report author and Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank expert, said: “In our interviews with the FBI, they said… this is the most aggressive period they have ever seen of Chinese activity.
“One official said to us: ‘The system is blinking red right now’.”
Geopolitical strategist and Atlantic Council fellow Alp Sevimlisoy also warned the “threat is getting more and more serious day by day”.
“It is important that we realise that China is a threat, not a challenger or competitor,” he said.
“A challenge or a competitor seeks to play on the same playing field as you and win playing by the rules. In China’s case, it seeks to undermine us and our unity.”
From land-grabbing drill ships, data hacks and AI, to a shadowy intimidation campaign code-named Operation Fox Hunt, here is how Beijing is working to overthrow the West.
Cyber attacks
Perhaps China’s most-successful under-the-radar activity has been its cyber attacks – which are thought to steal company secrets worth some $600billion each year.
But less-well-know and arguably more successful has been its hacks of personal data.
According to CSIS researchers, since 2014 the Chinese have stolen data on an estimated 80 per cent of Americans.
This was accomplished with large-scale breaches of companies including Starwood Hotels from which they stole reservation, credit card, passport and other information covering roughly 500million people.
Credit agency Equifax, the Office of Personal Management, and health insurer Anthem were also hacked and together yielded data on another 248million people.
“This repeated collection of vast amounts of data means that Beijing knows more about Americans than Americans likely know about themselves,” CSIS said.
And what exactly China does with all that data isn’t clear, but the possibilities are troubling.
Researchers believe patterns in the hotel booking data could help Beijing identify trips by high-profile individuals in the future – including where they are staying.
In our interviews with the FBI… this is the most aggressive period they have ever seen of Chinese activitySeth Jones
And the fact they seem to have prioritised stealing vast quantities of data – rather than specific data – suggests they are also using it to train artificial intelligence.
That AI could then be used to benefit China – for example using stolen medical data to recognise illnesses – or attack its adversaries.
“TikTok’s data-gathering capability reveals what media Americans find most engaging and what kinds of messages are most effective, which enables China to develop compelling messages that serve China’s larger interests,” the CSIS report says.
Even more worryingly, researchers raise the prospect that Beijing “appears poised to use cyber operations for real-world effects, including attacks that could endanger lives”.
That includes cyber attacks that could threaten gas and oil pipelines – such as the one that crippled the Colonial Pipeline back in 2021.
The attack shut down the oil pipe which supplies more than half the gasoline used on the US East Coast – and was thought to be carried out by a group based in Russia.
CSIS notes that “China’s growing sophistication and increasing aggressiveness in its campaigns mean it can compete effectively with the United States and Russia, from penetrating defence contractors to holding critical infrastructure at risk”.
Land-grabbing ships
The fact that China has built military islands in the South China Sea is hardly a secret.
Clearly visible by satellite, they are bristling with airfields and missile batteries.
But lesser known are the two huge drill ships used to build the islands in the first place, and which are now being used to literally steal land from US ally Taiwan.
The Tian Kun Hao is 460ft long, weighs 2,800 tons and was dubbed by its creators the “magical island maker”.
It works by lowering a cutting disc up to 115ft underwater where it chews up sand, clay and rock at a rate of 6,000 cubic metres – a little over two Olympic swimming pools – per hour.
Alongside its sister ship the Tian Jing Hong, which is only marginally smaller at 420ft, and a fleet of smaller vessels – it is being sent into Taiwanese waters to literally seize land.
Targeting the Penghu and Matsu Islands – located in the Taiwan strait – these vessels were caught illegally drilling sand and rock almost 4,000 times in 2020 alone.
Researchers at CSIS believe the ships are gathering materials for the Chinese construction industry, but the fact they come to Taiwan to get it hints at a more sinister purpose.
They believe the sheer scale of the incursions is designed to exhaust and over-extend the coast guard, which has to eject them each time they approach the islands.
Which drags them away from other vital missions, such as monitoring Chinese warships which are increasingly sailing into Taiwan’s defence zone.
And they are not the only vessels harassing Western allies in the region. Beijing also maintains a fleet of militarised fishing vessels which it uses to bully its neighbours.
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