Key points in this article:

• U.S. think tank The Foreign Policy Institute warns that China is infiltrating the political processes in various countries
• Chinese spy activities include propaganda activities by Chinese international students
• Japan must not take peace for granted

 
Many countries around the world are beginning to feel the threat of Chinese spy activities. The Liberty Web has, time and again, discussed the Beijing government’s plans for the “One Belt, One Road” economic network and the construction of military facilities in manmade islands in the South China Sea.

On the 6th, U.S. think tank The Foreign Policy Institute published an article on their website by one of their senior fellows June Teufel Dreyer. The article focused on the threat of the Beijing government’s spy activities around the world.

Dreyer mentioned the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan as examples of countries where China holds a certain degree of influence over their politics. She not only referred to cases where Chinese agents met with local government officials and politicians, but also disclosed that some Chinese students and university professors work as government spies.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), an organization for Chinese students and scholars who study overseas is a “major conduit for transmitting the Beijing government’s policies”, Dreyer said.

When the University of California at San Diego invited the 14th Dalai Lama to give the 2017 commencement address, the CSSA vigorously protested saying, “all behaviors which disgrace politics and history under the flag of spreading religious freedom are carried with intricate motivation and cannot be tolerated, no matter what background they are put into”. The students too posted appalling remarks on social media such as “I am asking for respect and inviting the Dalai Lama is NOT”.

In the 2016 progress report on Chinese international students published by China’s Social Sciences Academic Press, the number of international students hit 1.26 million in 2015 making up 25% of all international students around the world.

In other words, over 1.2 million students and scholars are working undercover for the Beijing government in various countries.

Politicians Surrounded by China

Dreyer added that former high-ranking officials and parliamentarians in Australia and New Zealand are “taking jobs with Chinese companies after leaving office”.

For example, former Foreign Minister of Australia Bob Carr who was known to be pro-China became the chairman of the Australia China Research Institute. The institute’s director and major donor is the “politically suspect billionaire Huang Xiangmo”, explained Dreyer.

Carr responded to the increasing suspicion of Chinese spy activity in Australia, denying that Chinese residents in Australia will ever aid Chinese agents. Carr’s confidence, however, is ungrounded.

Australian politicians are falling for bait offered by the Beijing government. Peter Vickery, the Australian Seruity Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)’s deputy director general for counter-espionage and interference, warned a parliamentary inquiry that attempts to influence Australian political and civil society have reached an “unprecedented scale”.

“While [the Cold War] was obviously a very busy time in that period of history, our assessment is that it’s not on the scale of which we are experiencing today,” he said.

In comparison, former PM Yukio Hatoyama spoke at Princeton University on the 8th saying that “China will embrace a peaceful diplomatic strategy, so neighbouring countries must maintain friendly grounds”. “Even if they become a superpower China will never predominate. History tells us that they don’t have that DNA,” he added in a flat denial of any political threat from China.

Japan must not treat this threat as somebody else’s business. Peace cannot be taken for granted.