China rejects Five Eyes claims, accuses it of global espionage

Beijing on Thursday strongly criticized the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, accusing it of engaging in global “espionage,” after the group warned that Chinese intelligence agencies were using job platforms such as LinkedIn to “lure” individuals with access to sensitive information, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu.

In a bulletin titled “Safeguarding Our Secrets” released on Wednesday, the domestic security agencies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand said that “China’s military intelligence services are using an increasingly wide array of professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes government and military personnel -- and anyone with access to classified or privileged information.”

According to the agencies, the main targets include individuals with security clearances, particularly those working in defense, foreign affairs, security, and intelligence sectors.

They also include military personnel with knowledge of regional capabilities and activities, as well as people who have direct or indirect access to government information.

The bulletin further stated that Chinese intelligence-linked operatives or their affiliates allegedly pose as consultants, think tank employees, or recruiters. These actors reportedly post job advertisements for foreign policy and defense analyst roles and later “pressure” successful applicants to provide “non-public” information for “unspecified clients who are associated with the Chinese government.”

The agencies claimed that Beijing’s military intelligence services ultimately aim to collect sensitive military, political, and economic information that could give China a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes alliance.

They also alleged that recruits are paid from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report, with the possibility of higher payments for increasingly sensitive information.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning rejected the accusations and said the Five Eyes alliance is the world’s “largest intelligence cooperation network,” which has long conducted “large-scale systematic espionage activities globally.”

“For such an organization to accuse China of a spy threat is, in itself, ironic,” she told reporters in Beijing.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev