Chinese espionage in PH: ‘They come in many forms’

MANILA, Philippines—With the Senate finding out that Alice Guo, who was elected mayor in 2022, is not a Filipino but a Chinese, concerns over the likelihood of Chinese espionage in the Philippines intensified.

This, as based on a report by Rappler last month, a Chinese journalist, Zhang “Steve” Song, the Manila bureau chief of Wenhui Daily, has “established a significant network in various strategic institutions” in the Philippines from 2021 to 2024.

Song, who also served as the Chinese newspaper’s Washington DC bureau chief, was identified by the government as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).

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INQUIRER.net has reached out to Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, to ask for the latest development on the investigation, but has yet to receive a response.

However, as pointed out by defense analyst Chester Cabalza, “it is not impossible for China to infiltrate the Philippines with its own agents and doomed spies” who likewise feed false information to Filipinos.

Yes, possible

Cabalza told INQUIRER.net that “they come in many forms.”

“[They] lure locals with a big sum of money to work for them and get critical information for their operations inside the Philippines, and [even] foreign affairs and defense operations,” he said.

READ: Alice Guo’s tricky answers trait of a ‘trained, smart spy’ – Lacson

Cabalza, president of the think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, stressed that “they may come in as students and tourists and new recruits in auxiliary forces.”

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“They can be businessmen, expats, collaborators of local think tanks, diplomats, academics who used to work in the defense and security sector, janitors, and even politicians and celebrities,” he said.

This, as he pointed out what the Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu had stated in his classic “Art of War”—espionage can become a tool to advance national interest against rival alliances and “realpolitik”.

‘Divide and conquer’

Cabalza explained that “although China was not a global colonial power in the past since the European colonial era, its bloody and dynastic terrestrial expansion became templates to its espionage acts.”

It is projected in its “divide and rule” regime, where it would not even need to wage an actual war against its adversaries, like the Philippines, which is fighting for its sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea.

READ: China’s actions in West PH Sea not ‘armed attack’ by int’l definition – Año

“As a rising superpower, now having the largest air, cyber, maritime, terrestrial, and space assets, an imposition by China to build a stout and powerful intelligence system and espionage act is inevitable,” he said.

This, given China’s “aspirational dream of becoming the leading nation-state on Earth.” As Cabalza said, “China’s expansive efforts to build well-trained and well-oiled spies lie in the success of their military operations” in the Philippines and all over the world.

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“China is creating a web of intelligence institutions using various diplomatic, cultural, educational, and trade assets and networks to achieve their strategic goals,” especially of attaining supremacy in the region and the world, he said.

Not new in PH

Back in 2020, then senator Panfilo Lacson, who served as head of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said that 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese soldiers had entered the country either as tourists or workers in POGOs for an “immersion mission.”

READ: ‘A good number’ of Chinese army reportedly in Philippines – Lacson

While Lacson had asked the government to validate what he said, Malacañang stressed that the government is always concerned over issues of national interest and security.

Although Song is the first one to be identified as an agent of China’s MSS, concerns have already intensified as early as last year, when the PNP started investigating the alleged existence of “sleeper cells” by China in the Philippines.

READ: PNP investigating alleged China ‘sleeper cells’ in PH

Sleeper cells are described as secretive groups waiting for orders to conduct “infiltration and intervention activities” in a country, like the Philippines. The Chinese Embassy, however, denied the allegation.

READ: Chinese Embassy denies ‘sleeper cells’ in PH

But it did not end here.

Coincidence or not?

Last April, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said that suspected Chinese companies pretending to be American or European businesses have been recruiting active and former AFP members.

Then in May, Yuhang Liu, a Chinese national, was arrested in Makati City for illegal possession of firearms and coercing a victim to deliver suspected hacking devices to his home.

READ: Chinese national arrested in Makati; suspected hacking devices seized

Back in June, the PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group started examining the contents of the equipment seized from Liu, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said.

Last month, the PNP revealed that Liu could be charged with espionage, which is considered as a crime by the Revised Penal Code, saying that there are pieces of evidence indicating the likelihood that the crime was committed.

There were no details stated, however.

Spying on US

But while the Philippines has yet to establish whether there is Chinese espionage, data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicate that China has already spied on the US.

The CSIS said in a report last year that espionage is undertaken in pursuit of China’s strategic objectives, stressing that in the US, incidents of espionage by China “far outnumber those by any other country, even Russia.”

Based on its data, CSISsaid that there were 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed against the US from 2000 to March 2023, with 2020 having the highest at 26.

Most of the incidents, the CSIS said, directly involved men from both China’s military and government: 49 percent military or government employees, 41 percent private Chinese nationals, and 10 percent non-Chinese agents.

One of the major cyber espionage incidents linked to China is the 2021 hacking of public and private institutions in the United States, Europe, and the Philippines, where infected USB drivers were used to deliver malware.

Espionage designs

As pointed out by the CSIS, hacking is not the only form of Chinese espionage as China uses traditional methods of agent recruitment, as well as unconventional ways, such as buying property next to a military or research facility.

The CSIS said that out of the 224 espionage incidents that it documented, 46 percent involved cyber espionage, usually by state-affiliated agents. Almost 30 percent of the incidents sought to acquire military technology.

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As Cabalza said, “superpowers usually use foreign and counterintelligence to advance their interests and grand strategy through their diplomatic, informational, military and economic clouts and networks.”

READ: China wants to mobilize entire nation in counter-espionage

“From ancient to postmodern times espionage, a double-edged sword is used by major powers for creeping invasion, colonialism and imperialism,” he told INQUIRER.net.

Cabalza said that the weaponization of economics is prevalent as a leverage for trade pacts and foreign investments, stressing that “they usually pin down the weaknesses of a certain nation.”