China is increasing its efforts to spy on our high-tech companies. ‘The Five Eyes’, the intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, warned about this. What’s more, Chinese people are becoming increasingly creative. More than 20,000 Britons have been contacted by Chinese spies, usually via LinkedIn.
‘Russia has been doing that throughout the 20th century’
According to spy expert Ben de Jong, the fact that intelligence agencies are issuing these warnings at this time is related to the campaign carried out by Western agencies to make their societies more aware of the threats that society sees from China in particular, but also from Iran and Russia , for example. .
‘In most cases, you will not be approached by someone from China’s intelligence services’
Chinese espionage against Western high-tech companies is nothing new, but according to De Jong it has been going on for at least ten years. Technological espionage in particular plays an important role for China and other dictatorial countries, because in this way they hope to catch up technologically with the West. “China is of course a relatively new power on the world stage, but Russia has been doing this throughout the 20th century. Only the way it is implemented, with modern technical resources, is always changing.’
Espionage is timeless
Countries spying on each other has always existed and all countries participate in it, according to the spy expert. The big difference is that nowadays it is easier for intelligence agencies to obtain information about a person. ‘You may be approached by someone from a country you sympathize with. In most cases, you will not be contacted by someone from China’s intelligence services.’
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Not all LinkedIn users in the West have to be so worried, especially for employees of high-tech companies or people who have important secrets, it is important to be vigilant. “Imagine you work at ASML and are looking for a new job and write on LinkedIn that you work at ASML, then you are very interested in Russian or Chinese intelligence agencies,” De Jong said. ‘But it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being approached by someone with a Chinese profile.’
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