Europe Faces Threats From Chinese Spies

China is always aggressively spying on western countries including those in Europe and the United States. In the past few days two different spy rings have been busted up, one in Greece and one in France. The Greek spying involved an air force colonel who has since confessed.

A Greek Air Force Colonel who has reportedly confessed to spying, is allegedly part of a broader Chinese espionage network operating across Europe, Greek officers have reported.

The investigation that led to his arrest began about two months ago, when the US Central Intelligence Agency informed Greece’s National Intelligence Service that a member of the Greek Armed Forces was leaking sensitive NATO-related information to China…

He allegedly used a device equipped with specialized software provided by Chinese handlers to photograph classified documents. Investigators traced his activity through a specific QR code system used to transmit sensitive data to Beijing.

 According to a separate report, the Greek colonel was under surveillance for more than a year before he was arrested.

Greek authorities first became suspicious of the 54-year-old telecommunications specialist in 2024 when he failed to declare to his superiors, as regulations oblige serving officers, a trip to China.

Meanwhile, four people have been arrested in a small town in France after they rented an Airbnb and set up a big antenna in the yard.

Residents of Camblanes-et-Meynac, about 15 miles (9km) from Bordeaux, grew suspicious when – after letting a house through rentals giant Airbnb – the Chinese pair erected a large parabolic antenna in the garden.

The dish was directed at the sky and locals noticed that its installation coincided with a spate of cuts to their own internet service…

The men – Chinese nationals aged 27 and 29 – were questioned at DGSI headquarters in the suburbs of France’s capital Paris, and have now been charged with “delivering information to a foreign power… likely to damage the interests [of France]”.

The satellite dish was 6 feet across which explains why neighbors thought it was odd. Two other Chinese spies were arrested for allegedly helping the pair. And the target of this somewhat clumsy spying attempt? It appears to be Elon Musk’s Starlink.

A search the following day led to the discovery of “a system of computers connected to satellite dishes enabling the capture of satellite data”, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The set-up made it possible to intercept “exchanges between military entities”, it said…

The two Chinese nationals had allegedly travelled to France with the intent to capture data from the Starlink satellite internet network – founded by Elon Musk – and other “entities of vital importance” and transmit it back to China.

No word of any arrests in the UK, but MI5 seems to be worried about Chinese espionage at universities.

MI5 has issued a warning to universities about the increased threat from China.

The intelligence agency hauled UK vice-chancellors into a briefing last week amid mounting security concerns posed by “hostile states”.

Espionage isn’t the only concern related to UK universities. China has allegedly been using its large number of students, nearly 150,000 in the Uk, as leverage to pressure schools into dropping research critical of China.

Sheffield Hallam University, a public research institute in South Yorkshire, ordered one of its most senior professors to halt her work on allegations of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.

Prof Laura Murphy, of the university’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, was told in February that her research into the alleged persecution of Uyghur Muslims must stop…

…internal documents show that Sheffield Hallam has been concerned for a number of years that China’s criticism of its research was having an effect on lucrative Chinese student numbers…

The email said the university’s enrolments from China had collapsed during the pandemic and failed to bounce back. It raised the alarm that Chinese government reproof could result in a “boycott” of the university by prospective applicants.

China’s efforts to steal data and control speech are taking place around the globe but especially in western countries where they have the most to gain. The fact that this is happening is out there but my own suspicion is that most Americans don’t really have a clue how extensive these efforts are.

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