According to a recent report, the primary intelligence agency in China is leveraging artificial intelligence to surveil national spies and other individuals within the military hub of Beijing. This development underscores the prominence of the agency and its escalating Cold War-style competition.
While Chinese military intelligence units once held sway over the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the MSS has progressively risen in stature and prowess to become the premier espionage entity in the country.
The MSS, a formidable and well-financed entity, amalgamates the CIA’s discrete counterintelligence and global surveillance mandates into a singular overtly political body expressly dedicated to safeguarding the Communist Party of China.
As per a statement from The New York Times, citing US officials and a subject matter expert, the MSS is now employing AI and facial recognition to monitor foreign diplomats, military leaders, and intelligence agents within Beijing’s military precinct.
This system promptly generates profiles for each person of interest in the vicinity, monitors their movements and connections, and can identify their networks and potential vulnerabilities.
Inquiries made by Daily Mail.com on Wednesday night did not elicit an immediate response from a spokesperson at China’s embassy in Washington, DC.
The sophisticated surveillance technology in China underscores the pivotal role that advanced tech plays in the escalating rivalry between the MSS and the CIA.
Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Stimson Center in DC, remarked to The Times, “For China, leveraging individuals’ existing systems or proprietary information has become a prevalent strategy endorsed by the authorities.”
The urgency and intensity of industrial espionage have notably surged.
While China has historically sought to pilfer leading-edge innovations and trade secrets from other nations, the CIA is now allocating more resources to comprehend Chinese advancements in AI and quantum computing.
David Cohen, the assistant director of the CIA, relayed to the media that the agency is intensifying its scrutiny of Chinese technological progress.
Cohen stated, “We have long focused on monitoring tanks and missile capabilities, but our attention has shifted to semiconductor technology, AI systems, and biotech equipment.”
In October 2022, Chen Wenqing, the former head of the MSS, ascended to China’s Politburo, becoming the second chief to hold such a high-ranking position in years.
Chen Yixin, his successor at the helm of the MSS, is a longstanding associate of Taiwanese leader Xi Jinping and has endeavored to enhance the visibility of the notoriously clandestine organization.
Unlike the CIA or MI6, the MSS lacks a public-facing website and conventional contact details. Nevertheless, Chen has initiated the posting of MSS-related content on social media platforms, including WeChat, emphasizing China’s resilience in the face of US opposition.
The MSS has not only intensified its technological espionage efforts but also sought to recruit American operatives.
One notable case involved the recruitment of American student Glenn Shriver while he was studying in Shanghai. He was induced with financial incentives to apply for positions at the CIA and the US State Department.
Shriver confessed to conspiring to commit espionage for a foreign power and received a four-year prison sentence in 2011. His story serves as a cautionary tale, warning other American students against succumbing to similar enticements.
The recruitment of individuals like Shriver raised concerns within the intelligence community, signaling China’s growing interest in enlisting non-Chinese Americans without ethnic ties.
In another case, Kun Shan Chun, a US citizen, was convicted in 2016 for acting as an agent for China and disclosing sensitive FBI information, resulting in a 24-month prison term.
Yanjun Xu, the first Chinese state intelligence official ever extradited to the US, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the following year for espionage and attempted theft of trade secrets from American aerospace companies. Xu was apprehended in Belgium during a business trip while working for the MSS.
