This Is China's and Chinese President Xi Jinping's New Spy Master

Wang Xiaohong, head of Department of Public Security of Henan province, is pictured in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China January 17, 2014. Picture taken January 17, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

Reuters: Exclusive: Xi confidant set to become China's new spy master - sources

BEIJING (Reuters) - A vice minister of public security, a close confidant of President Xi Jinping, is tipped to take over as China’s spy master, five sources said, as the country looks to clean up its security apparatus and plug intelligence gaps.

China has poured billions of yuan into domestic security, but the secretive Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Public Security in recent years have been hit with high-level corruption scandals and intelligence failings.

Wang Xiaohong, 60, a vice minister of public security, will replace Chen Wenqing as minister of state security during the session of parliament which begins on March 5, three sources with ties to the leadership and two foreign diplomats said.

Chen, 58, will become the country’s top prosecutor after a little more than a year as minister of state security, three of the sources said. The ministry is responsible for counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence and national security.

The change of guard is part of a broader cabinet reshuffle during the two-week parliamentary session.

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WNU Editor: How close is China's new spymaster is to the Chinese President? He is this close .....

.... “They are very close,” a source with leadership ties said. “Wang Xiaohong used to help look after Xi Jinping’s daughter.”

A Special Chinese Intelligence Unit Has Been Studying And Analysing Everything There Is To Know About President Trump

Washington Free Beacon: Chinese Studied Trump’s Every Move Prior to State Visit

Tweets, TV preferences, business deals scrutinized by secret unit code-named Skyheart.

Hundreds of Chinese government analysts worked nonstop for months studying every detail on President Trump in preparation for his state visit to China this week.

The information gathered includes hundreds of details about the president to be fed to reports for Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping who will hold talks with Trump for his first visit to China as president.

A special government unit linked to the Chinese military is code-named Skyheart and made up some 350 officials who work around the clock at a secret facility in western Beijing called Western Hills, site of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) general staff headquarters where China's underground nuclear command and control complex is based, according to a person familiar with the operation.

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WNU Editor: Preparing psychological profiles of foreign leaders is nothing new. Almost all countries do that. What I am surprised about this report is that it is saying that the Chinese only established this intelligence unit in 2012.

U.S. Congress: Chinese Espionage And Intelligence Activities At All Time High

Chinese Spy Ship. Credit: hawaiifreepress.com

Asia Times: Chinese espionage and intelligence activities at all time high, experts say

Chinese intelligence operations worldwide to steal important information both through human agents and cyber attacks are a growing threat, according to experts who testified at a US congressional commission last week.

Beijing’s spies, operating through the civilian Ministry of State Security and People’s Liberation Army Intelligence Bureau (IB), have scored impressive gains against the United States in particular, where economic espionage — the theft of trade secrets and high technology — remains at unprecedented levels.

Technology espionage by China was highlighted by the conviction in California last week of Wenxia Man of San Diego who was convicted of illegally conspiring to export fighter jet engines and an unmanned aerial vehicle to China.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese are saying the same thing about the U.S. .... China Demands Halt to US Intelligence (VOA).

China Launches A New 'Spy Ship'

China's third Dongdiao-class intelligence gathering vessel, Neptune (852), was commissioned into the PLAN's South Sea Fleet on 26 December 2015. Source: via PLA Daily

David Axe, Daily Beast: China Launches a New High-Tech Spy Ship

Neptune, the newly unveiled Type 815 surveillance vessel, is the latest addition to Beijing’s growing fleet—which has been deployed far and wide in recent years.

The Chinese navy has just commissioned a new high-tech spy ship—at least its fourth since 1999.

The Type 815 surveillance vessel Neptune, featuring sensitive electronic listening devices, could help Beijing further improve its already impressive ability to gather intelligence on its rivals, in particular the U.S. Navy.

China’s state media announced the Neptune’s Dec. 26 commissioning two days after the ceremony, which reportedly took place at an undisclosed naval base on the South China Sea. Neptune “is able to conduct continuous all-weather reconnaissance of various targets within a certain range,” explained PLA Daily, the official publication of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

Update: China commissions three vessels into South Sea Fleet (IHS Jane's 360)

WNU Editor: I suspect that this ship will be sailing off the coast of Hawaii and the western U.S. coastline very soon.

Will China`s New Security Panel Follow The Soviet Or U.S. Model?

Xi Jinping Is Expected To Head The New Committee And Make It A "Super Agency". Photo: Reuters

Will New Security Panel Be US Or Soviet Flavored? -- South China Morning Post

Plenum resolution was typically vague on the role and structure of new intelligence panel

The security panel set up by the Communist Party earlier this month bears a similar name to two very different foreign agencies: the US National Security Council (NSC) and the now defunct KGB, whose Russian name translates to the Committee for State Security.

The American panel serves as a venue for the president to meet with his top national-security and foreign-relations advisers. The KGB was a vast security and espionage apparatus focused as much on domestic threats as foreign ones.

Whether President Xi Jinping’s “national security committee” will resemble either of these agencies is anyone’s guess. The document announcing its creation – the resolution of the Central Committee’s third plenum – contains only one three-sentence paragraph describing the committee’s purpose.

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My Comment: My prediction is that it will be neither .... the Chinese like to do things the Chinese way, and they will structure this intelligence panel accordingly. But if they will be copying someone .... it will be the American model. I have been a regular visitor to China since the mid-1980s .... and the Chinese have always been fascinated with everything that is American .... even more so today with the dominance of the U.S. in high tech/military/and intelligence. As for the Soviet - KGB model .... I have never met anyone in China who looked favorably at that institution .... a point that is well analyzed in this article.

Chinese Cyber Spying Is Increasing

China Cyber Espionage Grows -- Washington Free Beacon

Secret military cyber unit masked activities after exposure

The recent exposure of a secret Chinese military cyber warfare unit has not led to a decrease in cyber espionage against U.S. government and private networks, according a draft congressional China commission report.

Instead, the Chinese military group temporarily limited its large-scale cyber espionage campaign and took steps to mask its activities, according to a forthcoming report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The report concludes that the Chinese government is engaged in a concerted campaign of cyber attacks led by a Shanghai-based unit.

China’s cyber spying is designed to gain information for its military programs and civilian enterprises, and also for preparing the military to conduct attacks in a future conflict.

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My Comment: With NSA surveillance and cyber spying stories and revelations now hitting the news media almost everyday .... it is not hard to fathom that in the eyes of the Chinese .... all bets are now off when it comes to cyber spying. In short .... if the U.S. can do .... then so can we.

China To Beef Up It's Cyber Defenses After Recent NSA Revelations

China To Step Up Own Security After New NSA Allegations -- Reuters

(Reuters) - China will step up its security following allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) collected data on millions of phone calls in Europe and snooped on leaders of major U.S. allies, the government said on Wednesday.

"Like many other countries, we have been paying close attention to these reports," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.

"China is concerned about the continued revelations of eavesdropping and surveillance and is paying attention to how the situation develops," she added.

"We will take the necessary steps to resolutely maintain the security of our own information," Hua said, without elaborating.

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Update #1: China to beef up defenses against NSA spying -- Voice of Russia
Update #2: China to maintain security: FM -- Global Times

My Comment: I am surprised that they are doing this only now .... not a few months ago when these revelations first broke out.

Are There Chinese Spy Ships In U.S. Waters?

Are Chinese Spy Ships In U.S. Waters? -- Killer Apps/Wired

This is interesting. After decades of American surveillance operations off China's coast, the Chinese military may be starting to respond in kind, according to reports coming out of the giant Asian security confab known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which took place in Singapore over the weekend.

While Chinese surveillance ships (the ship shown above is technically a Chinese satellite tracking ship, but pics of Chinese spy vessesl aren't exactly all over Getty Images) and aircraft won't be skirting the fringes of the California coast anytime soon, they may have already begun sniffing around Guam and Hawaii, writes former Australian diplomat Rory Medcalf, now with the Lowy Institute for International Policy -- an Australian think tank -- who attended the conference.

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Previous Post: China Admits To Sending Naval Ships On Patrol Off The Coast Of The U.S.. Are Chinese Ballistic Missile Subs Next?

My Comment: They have cyber spies, spies on the ground, spy satellites, why not Chinese spy ships.

A Guide To How China Steals Military Technology

 

The Technology China Wants In Order To Catch Up With Western Militaries -- Killer Apps 

The Pentagon's latest report on the capabilities of the Chinese military mentions an important aspect to its buildup: China's efforts to develop advanced technologies that have both civil and military use.

This means that China is trying to acquire tech that can be used to drive modern aerospace, computing, and transportation industries -- as well as 21st-century military equipment. How does it get this information? Everything from outright cyber theft to old-fashioned espionage to legitimate business partnerships.

As the report says:

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My Comment: An excellent review .... read it all.

Chinese Spies Visiting A Strategic U.S. Missile Base?

F.E. Warren Air Force Base

Chinese Suspected Of Spying On U.S. Strategic Missile Base In Wyoming -- Washington Free Beacon

A group of Asian men set off alarm bells in U.S. counterintelligence circles last week by showing up outside the entrance to a U.S. strategic missile base in Wyoming.

Between eight and 10 people suspected of being Chinese nationals drove up to the entrance outside F.E. Warren Air Force Base, one of three strategic nuclear missile bases in the United States.

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My Comment: I guess they are visiting on a (cough cough) student visa.

Chinese Intelligence Leaks

Image credit: Wikicommons

China’s Nuclear ‘Leakage’ -- Larry M. Wortzel, The Diplomat

As a former military attaché in China and Army intelligence officer, I only very rarely managed to get my hands on “Top Secret” Chinese documents. Today, around the Washington, DC area alone, there are by my count some eight original copies of The Science of Second Artillery Campaigns in the hands of China specialists at universities, think tanks, and policy institutes.

The document, labeled “Top Secret,” is somewhat comforting to the community involved in thinking about nuclear weapons doctrine, escalation control, and crisis management. Embodied in Chinese policy, as set out in this PLA publication, is a confirmation that China will maintain a minimal nuclear deterrent of a few weapons able to effect a response to a first strike by another power, an affirmation that China will never be the first to use nuclear weapons, and an explanation of the alert levels and rough response times for the PLA Second Artillery force in the event of nuclear war.

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My Comment: It's good to know that the Chinese also have intelligence leaks .... and theirs are probably more worst than ours. Unless .... of course .... this is just one successful and massive Chinese disinformation campaign.

Cyber-Militias Mobilize In China

Training: Chinese troops hone their skills on the Glorious Revolution computer game. Daily Mail

Chinese Military Mobilises Cybermilitias -- Financial Times

Nanhao Group is, in many ways, an ordinary technology company. Its staff make online scoring systems, exam-mark scanners and other educational hardware and software.

But many of its 500 employees in Hengshui, just south-west of Beijing, have a second job. Since 2005 Nanhao has been home to a cybermilitia unit organised by the People’s Liberation Army.

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My Comment: A National Guard of cyber warriors .... hmmm .... this is a smart Chinese idea .... I just wonder if they have the resources to support it.

China's Growing Spy Ministry

Chinese Telecom Firm Tied To Spy Ministry -- Washington Times

CIA: Beijing funded Huawei

A U.S. intelligence report for the first time links China’s largest telecommunications company to Beijing’s KGB-like intelligence service and says the company recently received nearly a quarter-billion dollars from the Chinese government.

The disclosures are a setback for Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s efforts to break into the U.S. telecommunications market. The company has been blocked from doing so three times by the U.S. government because of concerns about its links to the Chinese government.

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My Comment: Is this surprising .... no. What would have surprised me was if the Chinese government did not give a a quarter-billion dollars to Huawei.