Intelligence chiefs from the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have come together to warn of the unprecedented national security threat posed by China's espionage operations targeting cutting-edge technology.
The gathering of every member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance at the Q&A event on Tuesday demonstrated that "there is no greater threat to innovation than the Chinese government," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
The officials' shared goal was to boost awareness of the rapidly evolving threat and work with the private sector on safeguarding their innovation, he said. The Hoover Center of Stanford University was chosen to host the event due to that school's intimate connections to the tech hub of Silicon Valley.
"All nations spy," said Mike Burgess, director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization," but the Chinese government's current strategy represents a sobering paradigm shift. Beijing is carrying out "the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and theft of expertise in history."
It's the open and collaborative nature of the tech industries and research centers in Western countries that makes them tempting targets, the Australian spy boss warned.
In addition to China's hacking capabilities, which eclipse those of every other Asian nation put together, "non-traditional" operatives are taking advantage of private sector employees who might not understand the risks.
"Those working at the cutting edge of tech might not be interested geopolitics, but geopolitics is certainly interested in you," MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said.
He stressed the need for intelligence agencies to work with the innovators, universities and researchers on identifying vulnerabilities and helping them help themselves. It's no longer about stealing secrets from governments. National security is now more than ever linked with private innovation in tech and research.
The "rules of engagement have changed," said Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director-General Andrew Hampton, observing that legislation passed in Beijing compels any Chinese national to disclose to their government any information they might be involved in abroad.
Hampton also pointed out that Chinese President Xi Jinping oversees his country's Military-Civil Fusion strategy of using harnessing cutting-edge research and development, both domestic and other countries, to make China's military the most technologically advanced.
While the U.S. and its Five Eyes allies are constrained by law in how they can use disruptive technology like artificial intelligence, biotech and robotics, they're constrained by the rule of law. China and other adversaries face no such limitations, Wray said.
McCallum told the BBC that MI5 believed Chinese operatives had contacted more than 20,000 people in the U.K. through online networking sites with the intent to obtain sensitive information.
Since last year, the Biden administration has tightened the screws on chipmakers and export bans to keep advanced chips and chipmaking machinery out of China's hands.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
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