We already knew thanks to other reports. But in its annual assessment of security threats, Norway offers further confirmation of China’s espionage in Europe.
According to the Norwegian intelligence agency, China’s activities in Europe “include political intelligence and industrial espionage, and cyberspace is the main gateway” (Newsweek, February 13, 2024).
The report follows one last week from fellow NATO ally the Netherlands that said Chinese state-backed hackers infiltrated a Dutch military computer network last year by planting malware. Last month, the FBI said it had disrupted a botnet set up by Beijing-sanctioned hackers to mask alleged plans to target “critical infrastructure.”
The intelligence chiefs of the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand warned that Beijing was carrying out intellectual property theft on an unprecedented scale.
“Chinese intelligence services operate all over Europe” and they conceal their activities through a range of “commonly available tools and digital infrastructure,” the Norwegian document said.
They do not carry out their tasks alone, but are assisted by civilian actors such as “diplomats, travel delegations, private individuals, businesses and special-interest groups.”
Chinese nationals and organizations operating outside of China often get drafted into the job of spying whether they like it or not. They are obligated as a matter of Chinese law to help out when asked and are subject to Chinese spying and harassment themselves when they try to decline.
Beyond intelligence, the report raised concerns over its allies and its own dependence on value chains disproportionately controlled by only a few actors, such as China’s hold over mineral refinement technologies.
Norway says that China has both “the ability and the will” to exploit these dependencies to “exert political pressure.”
According to the Norwegian assessment, the West faces “a more dangerous security situation than we did a year ago.”
The conflicts of interest between authoritarian states and the West are becoming more apparent. Russian and Chinese authorities share an ambition to undercut the influence of the West and to establish an international order in which liberal values such as democracy and freedom of speech do not set the course. Cooperation between authoritarian states is increasing. International rule of law is weakened, and the world is rearming.
Etterretningstjenesten.no has the English version of Norway’s report.
Also see:
StopTheChinazis.org: “China’s Consular Volunteers Also Do China’s Dirty Work”
“It was China’s consulate in San Francisco which mobilized pro-CCP protesters, some of whom physically attacked anti-CCP protesters, during Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco.”
Safeguard Defenders: “China’s Consular Volunteers”
“Notices on appointments, trainings and commendation ceremonies throughout the years appear on embassy or consulate websites…. The PRC embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, even published a call for applications…specifying “recruitment targets”: overseas Chinese, international students, Chinese employees of Chinese-funded enterprises and other individuals in the Czech Republic, overseas Chinese groups, Chinese-funded enterprises and other organizations, institutions and groups.”
