The Official Chinese 🇨🇳 Espionage & Cold War Thread

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Poland arrests Huawei employee, Polish man on spying allegations | Reuters


reuters.com
Poland arrests Huawei employee, Polish man on spying allegations
Joanna Plucinska
5-6 minutes
WARSAW/LONDON (Reuters) - Poland has arrested a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official on spying allegations, officials and sources told Reuters on Friday, a move that could fuel Western security concerns about the telecoms equipment maker.

However, a spokesman for the Polish security services told Reuters the allegations related to individual actions, and were not linked directly to Huawei Technologies Cos Ltd [HWT.UL].

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations that its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.

No evidence has been produced publicly and the firm has repeatedly denied the claims, but the allegations have led several Western countries to restrict Huawei’s access to their markets.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for the Polish security services, said the country’s Internal Security Agency (ISA) detained a Chinese citizen and a former Polish security official on Jan. 8 over spying allegations. The two men have heard charges and will be held for three months, he said.

“This matter has to do with his actions, it doesn’t have anything to do with the company he works for,” Zaryn said of the Chinese man.

Logo of Huawei is seen in front of the local offices of Huawei in Warsaw, Poland January 11, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

A person with knowledge of the matter said a Huawei employee called Wang Weijing had been arrested but not charged.

A LinkedIn profile for Wang showed he has worked for Huawei’s Polish division since 2011 and previously served as attache to the Chinese General Consul in Gdansk from 2006-2011. Wang did not immediately respond to a request for comment via the social media site.

Polish public TV channel TVP said the Polish man was a former ISA officer and that security services had searched the offices of his current employer, telecoms firm Orange Polska (OPL.WA) (ORAN.PA). Huawei’s local offices were also searched, TVP reported.

China’s foreign ministry said it was “greatly concerned” by the reports, and urged Poland to handle the case “justly.”

Huawei said in a statement it was aware of the situation but had no immediate comment.

“Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and we require every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based,” it said.

Orange Polska said in a statement security services had on Tuesday gathered materials related to an employee, whom it did not identify. The company said it did not know if the investigation was linked to the employee’s professional work, and that it would continue to cooperate with the authorities.

Slideshow (4 Images)
HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY
Huawei has come under intense scrutiny in recent months as countries including Australia, New Zealand and Japan have followed U.S. moves against the company, citing security concerns.

Canadian authorities in December also arrested Huawei finance chief Meng Wanzhou at the behest of U.S. authorities as part of an investigation into alleged violations of U.S. trade sanctions, raising tensions with China at a time when Washington and Beijing are engaged in a broader trade war.

The West’s security concerns surrounding Huawei, and fellow Chinese telecoms equipment firm ZTE Corp (0763.HK) (000063.SZ), center around China’s National Intelligence Law. Approved in 2017, the law states that Chinese “organisations and citizens shall, in accordance with the law, support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work.”

This has sparked fears Huawei could be asked by the Chinese government to incorporate “backdoors” into their equipment that would allow Beijing access, for spying or sabotage purposes. Some experts also see a risk that Chinese intelligence may develop an ability to subvert Huawei’s equipment.

Teen's asylum unites critics of Saudi patriarchy

Ewan Lawson, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the arrests in Poland could bolster Western concerns.

“It does point at the sort of connections that may exist between the state intelligence enterprise and private Chinese companies,” he said.

The European Commission is aware of the reports of the arrests and will reach out to the Polish authorities for further information, spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters in Brussels.

Norway said on Wednesday it was considering whether to join other Western nations in excluding Huawei from building part of the country’s new 5G telecoms network.

Additional reporting by Anna Koper in Warsaw, and Christian Shepherd and Philip Wen in Beijing; Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Mark Potter

 

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Bolton Outlines a Strategy for Africa That’s Really About Countering China

 

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www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46557096
bbc.com
The churchgoing patriot who spied for China
By Tara McKelvey Leesburg, Virginia
22-28 minutes

Image copyright Police handout
US officials say China is trying to influence US policymakers, steal secrets and spy on the US government. But how? The story of Kevin Mallory, a man who seemed to lead a typical suburban life in Virginia, provides the answer.

FBI agents pointed their weapons at Jeremiah Mallory, a teenager standing in the doorway of his house one morning in June 2017, and told him to get on his knees.

"They've got guns in his face," says Patsy Clark, a family friend. They were looking for evidence against his father, Kevin Mallory, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who had been spying for the Chinese government.

One of Mallory's neighbours, a dog walker, was heading down the block: "All of a sudden I hear this yelling."

The roar of helicopters woke another neighbour, Delrose Winter, who says she saw police cars and black vans at the house. Cameron Norris, a student who lived nearby, saw dogs searching the yard and FBI agents carrying boxes: "They were taking equipment out - a computer."

FBI agents searched Mallory's house, a place with a red banner covered in Chinese calligraphy that hung alongside the front door, his yard and, according to neighbours, a bridle path where he used to go on runs. His street in Raspberry Falls, a Leesburg subdivision, looked like a war zone, with helicopters circling in the air and armed men charging through the grass.

Image caption At home, Mallory secretly communicated with Chinese agents
One year later Mallory, 61, was found guilty of espionage.

In a real-life episode of The Americans, a TV spy drama that takes place in northern Virginia, Mallory had lived a double life: he helped people on his street with yard work, went to church and assisted immigrants with income-tax forms. Yet at home he communicated with Chinese agents through social media and sold them US secrets.

Today he faces life in prison - he will be sentenced later this month. His punishment may serve as a warning to others who may be contemplating espionage, say US justice department officials. It also highlights the tense nature of the US-China relationship.

A new Cold War
The US has entered a new "cold war", said the CIA's Mike Collins, deputy assistant director at the agency's East Asia mission centre, at the Aspen Security Forum last year.

Chinese officials are investing billions of US dollars in global influence operations and espionage, according to research by a former CIA analyst, Peter Mattis.

The Chinese officials are attempting to gain inside information about the White House and the government, according to US officials, and shape the way that Beijing policies and its commercial and military activities are perceived on the world stage.

Image caption Loudoun County's Kristen Umstattd says she's concerned about Chinese broadcasting in Virginia
Chinese officials are attempting to sway the views of politicians and ordinary Americans, according to US officials, so they will support policies that are favourable to Beijing on issues ranging from the South China Sea to currency manipulation.

Last month US Assistant Attorney General John Demers testified before Congress about China's "covert efforts to influence the American public".

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who previously served as CIA director, told the BBC's Gordon Corera last year that the Chinese government is trying to "infiltrate the United States with spies".

Media playback is unsupported on your device


Media captionThen-CIA Director: China intent on stealing US secrets
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said the accusations are false. "We never do such things as interference or infiltration," she said. "That is definitely not Chinese style."

In Beijing, state officials view the US with suspicion, and espionage is punished severely.

Between 2011-12, 10 individuals who were working undercover in China for the CIA were killed, according to the New York Times. "One was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a government building - a message to others," the New York Times reporters claimed, citing US officials.

Image caption Where Mallory went jogging
Meanwhile President Xi has made it clear that influence operations in other countries are a priority for his government. He has done this by expanding the efforts of the United Front Work Department, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.

The United Front was created in the 1930s in order to marshal forces behind the Communist Party by providing a "united front" for the party among those who are living abroad.

This means that today when Chinese students in the US publicly contradict party positions, Beijing officials may inform their family in China that they have spoken out in a "subversive" manner, according to a report, Chinese Influence and American Interests.

Chinese American students say they're singled out for scrutiny by the Beijing officials and also by US officials who suspect them of being spies.

As many as one in five Asian Americans who were accused of espionage since 2009 were never convicted, according to legal scholar Andrew Kim, the author of a May 2017 report about espionage. He showed that the rate is twice as high as that among individuals with non-Asian backgrounds.

Party officials take to the air waves
Leesburg, a town in Loudoun County, provides a textbook example of the Communist Party's mode of operations. Located 40 miles from Washington, Leesburg has old-fashioned streetlamps, brick sidewalks and picket fences, evoking authentic Americana, and seems far from global conflict.

Yet Chinese agents lured Mallory, working out of his Leesburg home, into their spy ring. Separately Chinese officials obtained access to the airwaves of a local radio station.

The Chinese officials bought access to a Leesburg station, WCRW 1190 AM, through a subsidiary company. The 50,000-watt station used to be housed in a low-slung building with plate-glass windows, but the place was sold to a family several years ago.

Image caption WCRW towers in Ashburn, shown above, broadcast programmes to Washington
Under a new style of management, WCRW transmitters were moved to Ashburn, a town closer to Washington. The radio towers are posted on property owned by a company, Loudoun Water, near an installation of China's Zigong Lantern Festival, a travelling exhibit that was open in December. "They wanted a stronger signal," says Kristen Umstattd, a local official, referring to the station owners.

A former CIA analyst who has studied in Taiwan, she says that last year the station owners received permission to expand their programming hours. A station engineer says they now broadcast 24 hours a day. "I hope somebody above my pay grade is paying attention," Umstattd says.

Image caption WCRW, once located in this building, is now known as China Radio Washington
The radio signal is powerful. On a recent Sunday, listeners in Washington learned about Chinese satellites hurling through space and other achievements of the Beijing government. In contrast the news bulletins, which are produced by China Radio International, tended to strike an ominous tone when reporting on the US economy.

In addition, Chinese officials broadcast news bulletins in Philadelphia, Atlanta and other cities, according to Reuters.

The programming of WCRW and the other stations, according to the report, Chinese Influence and American Interests, are part of what is known as the Grand External Propaganda Campaign. Chinese broadcasters say on the station that they're offering listeners in the area "perspective" and "commentary" on news and current events so that people in the US can "learn what China is thinking and saying".

A new kind of honey trap
For the Chinese agents, Mallory was a catch. He has dark brown hair, a broad smile and an easy-going manner, and he does not drink alcohol or coffee. He had worked as a covert CIA officer and held security clearances that gave him access to the nation's most valuable secrets.

By the time he was approached by the Chinese in early 2017, though, he was working as an independent consultant and was struggling to make ends meet.

Randall Phillips, an investigator with the Mintz Group, previously served as the CIA's chief representative in China. Speaking on the phone from Shanghai, he says the Chinese agents tried to make Mallory feel special. "They played with the guy's vanity," says Phillips. It's a time-honoured technique often joked about. "I keep waiting for the honey trap," one CIA official said recently in a Washington bar.

The Chinese agents approached Mallory not in a bar but on LinkedIn, saying in a casual way: "Hey, will you join my network?'"

According to court records. Mallory replied: "I'm open to whatever. I've got to - you know - pay the bills."

Image caption Mallory lived next to a golf course
They told him they were looking for someone with his professional background, the same ploy they had used on European members of parliament, according to the German domestic intelligence service.

A German official says that the Chinese agents have become more perfidious on LinkedIn over the past year. Paul Rockwell, LinkedIn's head of trust and safety department, says they're concerned about the recruitment efforts of Chinese agents: "We are committed to stopping this behaviour."

Beijing officials dispute the Germans' account, calling it "groundless".

Living the Dream
Mallory, one of nine children, graduated from university in Utah with a political science degree and spent time in the military before working as a CIA operative. He lived in Iraq, China and Taiwan and married Mariah Nan Hua in Taipei.

In 2006, they bought their house in Raspberry Falls for $1.16m, with their three children, an adopted Alaskan malamute-style puppy Misty and another husky, Sierra.

Mallory and his wife spoke Chinese at home, a place decorated with brightly coloured throw pillows, a framed picture of a Mormon tabernacle and a rice cooker resting on a kitchen counter.

His own life reflected the way Americans and native Chinese speakers have come together in northern Virginia over the years. About 14% of the population in Loudon County is Asian American, ,according to census data.

On Sundays Mallory and his wife would head to church, where he was known as Zhiping Mao. Many of their friends at church are native Chinese speakers - they sing lyrics in Chinese (you can follow the English-language version in a hymnbook) in a back room.

 

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Image caption Leesburg has several Chinese businesses
Others at the church have a similar background to Mallory. Fluent in Chinese, these middle-aged men work for the CIA or other intelligence agencies. As one of Mallory's friends commented, "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone with a security clearance."

Mallory used to remind people in Raspberry Falls how lucky they are. "He'd say: 'You're living the American dream," recalls a family friend. "He'd tell people they should appreciate what they have."

Another friend, Delrose Winter, recalls a day when Mallory and his family came over for a Fourth of July barbecue. They wore red, white and blue on that Independence Day and seemed "very patriotic", she says.

But after the 2008 real estate crash, his fortunes changed. His house plummeted in value, and later he lost his job. A scientist who lives nearby, says: "They were under severe financial stress." Another neighbour says: "They were under water", adding: "That contributed to his desperation."

Image caption Mallory struggled to support his family in Raspberry Falls
Seeking access to the White House
By the time the Chinese agents got in touch with Mallory, he had $30,000 in credit card debt, according to court records, and was behind in his mortgage payments.

His new acquaintance on LinkedIn introduced him to someone who worked for the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, a think-tank that provides offices for scholars and cover for intelligence agents. He offered Mallory a position as a consultant.

Mallory flew to Shanghai and met his new bosses in a hotel room. These men did not say they worked for the intelligence agency, but they did not deny it either. During that meeting, the hair on Mallory's neck stood up, he later said. He had agreed to take their money, though.

"They get you to cross a line," says Phillips, the former CIA officer. "Once you do, it's harder to get out."

Mallory returned to Leesburg with a Samsung Galaxy phone the Chinese had given him - complete with a chat application by which they communicated with him.

That phone later proved to be his downfall.

When he got home, he told his wife he had concerns about his new job. Despite his reservations, though, he provided the Chinese with information he had obtained while working in the US intelligence services. According to US officials, some of the material that he gave to the Chinese was classified.

Mallory said that the agents told him: "We just want to understand what Trump administration policy is going to be."

He told the Chinese he had applied for a job in the White House, and they encouraged his efforts. The agents also prodded him for information about missile defence systems and other sensitive issues.

Image copyright US district court, Virginia
Image caption Mallory placed classified material on a Toshiba SD card, shown above
But then things got really complicated for Mallory.

He texted a CIA resource officer and a covert operative, both of whom attended his church, and said he was hoping to speak to someone in the CIA's East Asia division.

He said later he was looking to tell the CIA what he was learning about the Chinese agents - effectively becoming a double agent.

These text messages began to take on a frantic tone. Psychiatrist David Charney who has interviewed several convicted spies, says they realise at a certain point they "can never go home", which can lead to deep apprehension and terror.

Mallory placed classified material that he had obtained during the time that he worked for US intelligence agencies on a Toshiba SD card, wrapping it in tinfoil and stashing in his bedroom closet.

He told the Chinese agents he was worried that US authorities would discover his subterfuge: "If they were looking for me in terms of state secrets and found the SD card we would not be talking today."

A rookie spy - and a computer glitch
Mallory's lawyers said that he did nothing wrong. They said he was simply collecting information about Chinese espionage so he could inform the CIA about Beijing's methods. He hoped to impress the CIA with his knowledge of Chinese tradecraft so the CIA would hire him back.

But prosecutors presented text messages in court as evidence that he was selling US secrets: "Your object is to gain information," he texted the Chinese agents. "My object is to be paid."

Mallory arranged to meet with a CIA official in an Ashburn hotel in May 2017. Mallory's lawyers said that he was planning to show off his knowledge of the Chinese espionage techniques. The prosecutors said Mallory wanted to speak with the CIA officials not to impress them with his knowledge but because he wanted to cover his tracks.

Mallory was clearly surprised when an FBI special agent also showed up for the meeting, as prosecutors later showed in court. The presence of the FBI agent showed that federal investigators were interested in Mallory. Still he carried on as if everything was fine. He described the way the Chinese had provided him with a secure phone. At this point, he assumed that his text messages would remain encrypted.

Image copyright US distrrict court, Virginia
Image caption Mallory texted the Chinese agents on a Samsung Galaxy that they gave him
But as he spoke, the phone crashed. The messages suddenly appeared on the phone's screen while he was in the room with the FBI, revealing how he had betrayed his country. For a long moment he said nothing. James Hamrock, an engineer who examined the phone for the FBI, says that Mallory was overly trusting of the phone and of the people who gave it to him. Unbeknownst to Mallory, the software had a glitch.

Two of the counts, both relating to where he had committed the crimes, have been dropped. The government is trying to get the charges reinstated. These two charges do not affect his sentence, however: life in prison.

Mallory wrecked his own life and cast suspicion on others. Many of the native Chinese speakers who live in Loudoun County are angry. "We're American first," says Taiwan-born Eiling Chao, who runs her own company, Choice Insurance Network, with her daughter, Stephanie Chao, and other family members. "If there's any spying action happening, I certainly hope the person gets punished to the fullest."

Image caption Eiling Chao, shown with Stephanie, says the US should fight hard against espionage
A jailhouse phone call
US officials have studied the crime of espionage, creating an acronym that establishes motives: MICE (money, ideology, compromise and ego). It's true that Mallory wanted to make money from the Chinese, but in the end it was not much: he earned $25,000 USD from his spy work.

Mallory's house is now on the market: a short sale, it's listed at $740,000 and has lost more than a third of its value. The Chinese banner has been taken down. Misty and Sierra still lie on a patch of woodchips in the yard on sunny afternoons. They barely look up when a mailman comes.

Mallory is being held in the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, and he is waiting for his sentencing. He was in the courtroom on an autumn morning, and he wore Velcro sneakers, white socks and a prison jumpsuit, and his face was ashen.

During a phone call to his daughter from jail, he tried to explain why he had been arrested. "Your mom knows I've been all up front with all this kind of stuff with the CIA," he said and, referring to the FBI agents, said: "Somehow these other guys twisted things around a little bit." He said: "Things get complicated sometimes."

Image copyright US dstrict court, Virginia
Image caption The jury wrote a note to the judge, stating their verdict
His friend Kevin McLane worked with him in Iraq and says that he is innocent. "He thought he was doing something good for the United States," says McLane. "Was he naïve? Probably. A little bit stupid? Probably. Was he trying to hurt the United States? Absolutely not."

Mallory's wife, "an absolute rock", as a friend describes her, is now driving a school bus. Jeremiah leads the church group in prayer and has the grace that comes from years of studying ballet. He is getting ready to go on a two-year missionary in Australia, following his brother, Michael, 22, who is there now. Jeremiah wrote to the court in October and asked if he could hug his father before he leaves: "It would be an unforgettable blessing to have a last moment with my Dad."

Many of the Americans who have committed treason were once model citizens who went into a downward spiral and thought espionage would help them turn things around. Behind bars they still see themselves as patriotic, says David Charney, the psychiatrist. That seems to be true with Mallory: he calls his friend Patsy Clark from jail, and she says he remains loyal to the US.

"They were never hating the US," Charney said in a Washington lecture: "Their only beef was with themselves." He added: "Weirdly enough, they're still good Americans."

 

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wsj.com
Federal Prosecutors Pursuing Criminal Case Against Huawei for Alleged Theft of Trade Secrets
Dan Strumpf, Nicole Hong and Aruna Viswanatha
4 minutes

T-Mobile's device-testing robot. Photo: Uncredited

Updated Jan. 16, 2019 3:41 p.m. ET

Federal prosecutors are pursuing a criminal investigation of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. for allegedly stealing trade secrets from U.S. business partners, including the technology behind a robotic device called “Tappy” that T-Mobile US Inc. used to test smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter.

The investigation grew in part out of civil lawsuits against Huawei, including one in which a Seattle jury found Huawei liable for misappropriating robotic technology from T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Wash., lab, the people familiar with the matter said. The probe is at an advanced stage and could lead to an indictment soon, they said.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

A Huawei spokesman declined to comment. The company contested the T-Mobile case, but conceded that two employees acted improperly.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has long caused tension between Washington and Beijing. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains what the company does and why it’s significant. (Photo: Aly Song/Reuters)

The federal investigation puts added pressure on the Chinese technology giant, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment and the No. 2 maker of smartphones worldwide. It comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to aggressively pursue claims of intellectual property theft and technology transfer by Chinese companies.

Huawei has long been under scrutiny by the U.S., which has effectively blocked the Chinese telecom company from installing its equipment in major U.S. networks because of concerns that its gear could be used to spy on Americans.

Huawei has forcefully denied that it is a security threat, says it is owned by its employees and operates independently of the Beijing government.

U.S. pressure on Huawei has been building. Last month, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of U.S. authorities. Ms. Meng, the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, is accused of misleading banks about the nature of Huawei’s business in Iran, leading to violations of U.S. sanctions on the country.

Ms. Meng has denied the charges, and Huawei says it follows the law in all countries where it operates.

In another development, Polish authorities last week arrested Huawei executive Wang Weijing and charged him with conducting espionage on behalf of the Chinese government. Huawei wasn’t accused of wrongdoing, and the company on Saturday terminated Mr. Wang’s employment.

(More to come)

 

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Apple Engineer Accused of Stealing Self-Driving Car Secrets

nbcbayarea.com
Apple Engineer Accused of Stealing Self-Driving Car Secrets
Published Jan 29, 2019 at 5:24 PM | Updated at 11:33 PM PST on Jan 29, 2019
5-6 minutes
For the second time in six months, an Apple engineer is accused of stealing intellectual property in order to benefit a China-based competitor
By Michael Bott
NEWSLETTERS
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For the second time in six months, the FBI is accusing a Chinese national working for Apple of attempting to steal trade secrets related to the company’s secret autonomous vehicle program, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit learned Tuesday. (Published Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019)
For the second time in six months, the FBI is accusing a Chinese national working for Apple of attempting to steal trade secrets related to the company’s secret autonomous vehicle program, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit learned Tuesday.

Apple began investigating Jizhong Chen when another employee reported seeing the engineer taking photographs in a sensitive work space, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed this week.

Chen, according to the complaint, allowed Apple Global Security employees to search his personal computer, where they found thousands of files containing Apple’s intellectual property, including manuals, schematics, and diagrams. Security personnel also found on the computer about a hundred photographs taken inside an Apple building.

Apple learned Chen recently applied for a job at a China-based autonomous vehicle company that is a direct competitor of Apple’s project, according to the complaint. A photo found on Chen’s computer, which Apple provided to the FBI, showed an assembly drawing of an Apple-designed wiring harness for an autonomous vehicle.

Chen was arrested just one day before he was scheduled to fly to China, according to the complaint.

Last July, former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang was arrested by federal agents for allegedly stealing proprietary information related to the company’s autonomous vehicle project. Zhang was accused of trying to bring Apple’s trade secrets to China-based XMotors.

"Apple takes confidentiality and the protection of our IP very seriously," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "We are working with authorities on this matter and are referring all questions to the FBI."

The FBI declined to comment on the story.

Last week, CNBC reported that Apple dismissed more than 200 employees from its secretive autonomus vehicle group, Project Titan.

NBC Bay Area will update the story as it learns more.

 

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How the Pentagon Countered China’s Designs on Greenland

wsj.com
How the Pentagon Countered China’s Designs on Greenland
Drew Hinshaw and Jeremy Page
10-13 minutes
NUUK, Greenland––The Pentagon raised an alarm last year over what it deemed a troubling development in this ice-cloaked territory: China was looking to bankroll and build three airports that could give it a military foothold off Canada’s coast.

Greenland’s prime minister had flown to Beijing in 2017 and asked Chinese state-run banks to finance the new commercial airports, including a big one for one of the smallest capitals on earth, Nuuk, which can now be served only by propeller planes. The bankers were interested, people at the meetings said, so long as a Chinese company constructed the airports.

When word of the incipient offer reached then-U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis early last year, he called on Denmark—whose kingdom includes Greenland as a self-governing territory but whose government had been reluctant to fund the airports.

Beijing must not be allowed to militarize this stretch of the Arctic, Mr. Mattis told his Danish counterpart Claus Frederiksen at a meeting in Washington in May, according to officials close to the discussion.

People boarding an Air Greenland jet bound for Copenhagen at Kangerlussuaq airport, the only air strip in Greenland that can accommodate large jet aircraft.

For years, the U.S. and Europe had generally been spectators to a global Chinese building spree. To forge new global trade and infrastructure links, Chinese banks have been financing hundreds of projects, mostly built by Chinese companies, including roads, railways, pipelines and power plants.

Western governments have been less willing to lend taxpayers’ money for risky infrastructure in distant lands. But that reluctance is ebbing as the geopolitical fallout emerges from the financial difficulties several countries face from Chinese infrastructure loans.

In one notable case, Sri Lanka, unable to service a Chinese loan, granted a Chinese company a 99-year lease on a port close to key Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

Alarmed, the U.S. is joining with allies to offer alternative sources of infrastructure financing. The sums involved are still dwarfed by China’s plans, but in July, the U.S., Japan and Australia announced a partnership to invest in infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region. The European Union unveiled similar plans in October.

Pentagon officials expressed worry that Greenland’s aid-dependent government could struggle to repay a loan for the $555 million project, and after a few missed payments, China’s government could take control of runways that could potentially be used by warplanes on an island where the U.S. has a missile-tracking air force base. A presence in Greenland could also help China access new shipping lanes and resources under the Arctic’s retreating ice.

Months later, after the airports question precipitated a collapse of this polar island’s government and serial visits by U.S. and Danish officials, Greenland announced that its new capital airport would be built with loans backed by the Danish government, as would another 400 miles up the coast. Greenland will finance the third facility, and no role for China is foreseen.

Oqaatsut, a small village of about 30 inhabitants, faces an existential question of survival as the younger generation leaves for larger towns in Greenland.

In an unusual step, the U.S. Defense Department has offered to chip in with airport infrastructure that would help both civilian and military or surveillance planes land on the country’s coast.

Greenlandic officials say they hope the airports will open up one of the world’s most inaccessible places, allowing in affordable flights bearing tourists, repatriates and immigrants.

U.S. officials see the episode as demonstrating one model for countering China’s global ambitions: calling on old allies to engage in places where Beijing’s ascent is challenging American power.

“When you have an issue like this arise, you see the strength of those alliance relationships,” a senior Defense Department official said.

The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment on the airport project but in a statement said China had good relations with Greenland and Denmark, adding that it encouraged Chinese companies to help Arctic development.

A former colony of Denmark, which granted it limited self-rule in 2009, Greenland doesn’t have roads between its cities. Residents move around using a network of domestic airstrips and helipads that stretches back to World War II.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen repeatedly turned down requests to lend money for international airports on the island, Greenlandic officials say. After last year’s meeting between Mr. Mattis and Denmark’s defense minister, however, Mr. Rasmussen’s government rapidly pulled together a funding package that Greenlanders found surprisingly favorable.

Street signs in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and largest city. Residents of the world’s largest island depend on a World War II-era network of airstrips and helipads to get around.

“He was not into it at all—until the Chinese showed interest,” said Aleqa Hammon, Greenland’s former prime minister, speaking of Mr. Rasmussen.

Mr. Rasmussen’s office declined to comment.

Copenhagen’s volte-face is a measure of how China’s economic and military rise is intensifying international competition over the Arctic, especially Greenland, whose tiny government is slowly moving toward independence from Denmark.

China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” last year, outlining plans to carve new shipping routes through the region’s melting ice and exploit the natural resources underneath.

Greenland is key to China’s strategy, which it calls the “Polar Silk Road.”

“China needs to carefully consider the possibility that a small and weak Greenlandic nation could emerge in the Arctic in the next 10 years,” wrote Xiao Yang, director of the Arctic Research Center at Beijing International Studies University, in a recent paper. “This will be the key node for the successful implementation of the Polar Silk Road.”

In 2016, a Chinese government-owned company tried to buy an abandoned naval base in Greenland; Denmark sent four sailors to live there and shoo away Chinese interest. Chinese firms hold a stake in uranium and rare-earth mines on the island, and a state-owned university recently announced it would build a polar research antenna here.

The airport contest kicked off with a series of meetings in Beijing in November 2017 between Greenland’s government and Chinese banks. Denmark, eager to appear supportive of Greenlandic sovereignty, had helped arrange the meetings, including with China Development Bank and the Export Import Bank of China.

Downtown Nuuk. Greenland's population is becoming more and more urbanized, as more people leave a traditional lifestyle and move to the city, which now has about 17,500 inhabitants.

The banks seemed to know little about Greenland, said Johannus Egholm Hansen, board chairman of Greenland’s state-owned Kalaallit Airports company, who attended those meetings. “It was early days,” he said. The banks didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After Kalaallit Airports short-listed a Chinese construction firm to build the new airports, Denmark conveyed its alarm to the Pentagon. After Mr. Mattis got involved, Denmark’s government asked a consortium led by Danske Bank to help assemble an alternative financing package.

Officials in Greenland were pleasantly surprised by the terms. “Even Chinese funding is not as cheap as this,” Mr. Hansen said.

Denmark undertook to buy equity and guarantee loans at a roughly 1% interest rate. Greenland’s government expected to spend up to quadruple that in borrowing costs. The savings will cut $130 from the price of a round-trip ticket from Europe to one of the world’s most unreachable islands, flag carrier Air Greenland estimates.

“This is an investment in national security, an investment to make sure we can stay on a good foot with the United States,“ said retired Adm. Nils Wang, a former head of the Danish navy and an expert on Arctic security affairs.

Not everyone in Greenland has been pleased about the reassertion of Western power in the Arctic. As the terms of the new deal emerged in September, the government of Prime Minister Kim Kielsen collapsed and Parliament launched into months of arguments. Pacifists expressed their continued mistrust of the U.S. military, which once secretly started construction on a nuclear-missile base here. Many lawmakers said they disliked the influence Denmark would gain over the new airports, and a pilot in the legislature quarreled over the technical specifications of the runways.

Finally, in November, exhausted lawmakers approved the project.

“It’s basically going to make Greenland part of the globalized world,” said Air Greenland CEO Jacob Sorensen, “instead of being this isolated island up in the middle of the North Atlantic.”

Newer apartment buildings in Nuuk catch the last rays of Greenland’s sunset.

—Bingyan Wang in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@wsj.com and Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Australia has a problem







@88m3 @ADevilYouKhow @wire28 @dtownreppin214
@DonKnock @dza @wire28 @BigMoneyGrip @Dameon Farrow @VR Tripper @re'up @Blackfyre @Cali_livin @NY's #1 Draft Pick

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Can’t wait to make an American espionage thread

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...99e426-5583-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html


washingtonpost.com
Chinese woman carrying thumb drive with malware arrested at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort
By Devlin Barrett
4-5 minutes


Devlin Barrett

Reporter focusing on national security and law enforcement

April 2 at 5:33 PM

Secret Service agents arrested a woman at President Trump’s Florida resort this past weekend after she was found carrying two Chinese passports and a thumb drive with malicious software on it, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege the woman, Yujing Zhang, first approached a Mar-a-Lago security checkpoint on Saturday shortly after noon and told security officials she was there to go to the swimming pool.

“Zhang was asked if the true member . . . was her father, but she did not give a definitive answer,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Secret Service special agent Samuel Ivanovich. “Zhang additionally did not give a definitive answer when asked if she was there to meet with anyone. Due to a potential language barrier issue, Mar-a-Lago believed her to be the relative of member Zhang and allowed her access onto the property.”

Once inside the grounds, Zhang was approached by a receptionist and asked why she was there.

“After being asked several times, Zhang finally responded that she was there for a United Nations Chinese American Association event later in the evening,” the complaint said. “The Receptionist knew this event did not exist” but when the agent, Ivanovich, followed up with further questions, Zhang allegedly said she had arrived early for the event so she could “familiarize herself with the property and take pictures.”

At that point, Zhang presented documentation that she said was her invitation to the event, but it was in Chinese and the agent could not read it.

Agents then took Zhang to a different location to interview her, at which point she became “verbally aggressive,” according to the charging document.

“During the second interview of Zhang, she claimed her Chinese friend ‘Charles’ told her to travel from Shanghai, China to Palm Beach, Florida, to attend this event and attempt to speak with a member of the President’s family about Chinese and American foreign economic relations. Agents were unable to obtain any information more specifically identifying Zhang’s purported contact, ‘Charles’,” the complaint said.

Zhang also told the agents that she had never claimed she was going to the pool.

After Zhang was stopped and questioned, a search of her belongings turned up four cell phones, a laptop, a hard drive, and a thumb drive which contained “malicious malware,” according to the criminal complaint. Authorities said that despite her initial claim to be headed for the pool, she was not carrying a swimsuit.

She is charged with making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer and entering a restricted area.

After a flood of charity events left Mar-a-Lago, pro-Trump groups are trying to make up the lost business. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Scott McIntyre/The Washington Post)

A Secret Service spokeswoman said it was an “ongoing investigation” and declined further comment.

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*******************************************************

Chinese woman charged after entering Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort carrying 'malicious software'

cnbc.com
Chinese national charged with entering Trump's Mar-a-Lago was carrying 'malicious software,' planned to try to speak with member of president's family
Dan Mangan,Kevin Breuninger
7-9 minutes
A Chinese woman has been charged with making a false statement to the U.S. Secret Service after entering President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on bogus pretenses, while carrying a thumb drive that contained “malicious software,” court documents revealed Tuesday.

A criminal complaint says the woman, Chinese national Yujing Zhang, claimed that she had been sent there by a Chinese man whom she had only spoken with via an instant messaging platform to attend an event at Mar-a-Lago and try “to speak with a member of the President’s family about Chinese and American foreign economic relations.”

Zhan was on the luxury Palm Beach property on Saturday, at around 12:15 p.m., while Trump was playing golf at his Trump International course nearby.

She had passed by at least five Secret Service agents and arriving in the main reception area of Mar-a-Lago, later claimed to the Secret Service that she was there to attend a “United Nations Friendship Event” between China and the United States, the complaint said.

That event did not exist, according to the complaint written by a Secret Service agent, which was signed by a judge in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida.

However, the Miami Herald reported that Zhang may have meant say she planned on attending one of two events scheduled there by Li “Cindy” Yang, a Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who has been identified as running a business that offered to sell access to Trump and his family. Yang’s “International Leaders Elite Forum” planned for Saturday at Mar-a-Lago did not take place after the Herald reported that Yang had taken photos with Trump and other leading Republicans that she used to advertise her access. The other event, “Safari Night,” also was cancelled.

Yang years ago owned a massage parlor where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft allegedly received sexual services for money in January. Kraft has been charged with soliciting prostitution in that case, and has pleaded not guilty.

The complaint against Zhang noted she had traveled past several signs clearly stating that the areas she was visiting were under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service and that “persons entering without lawful authority are subject to arrest and prosecution.”

Zhang was found to be carrying four mobile phones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive, and a thumb drive.

“A preliminary forensic examination of the thumb drive determined it contained malicious software,” the complaint said.

The Secret Service declined to comment, citing the “ongoing investigation.” A spokesman for Mar-a-Lago did not immediately respond to CNBC when asked for comment.

Zhang was charged with making false statements to a federal officer, and entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds. She faces up to five years in prison and fine topping $250,000 if convicted.

A lawyer for Zhang did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump was at Trump International golfing from 9:37 am to 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, while Zhang arrived at Mar-a-Lago, gained entrance to it, and was detained by the Secret Service. He returned to Mar-a-Lago at around 4 p.m. Saturday.

According to the criminal complaint, Zhang was admitted to Mar-a-Lago after passing through a Secret Service checkpoint, where she presented an agent with two “Republic of China” passports bearing her name and photograph, the complaint said.

After a Secret Service agent confirmed the identification, Mar-a-Lago security was unable to verify that Zhang was on the access list for the resort. Zhang said she was going to the pool, and a resort manager then told security that “Zhang is the last name of a member at the Mar-a-Lago club,” the complaint said.

When Zhang was asked if the actual member of the club was her father, “she did not give a definitive answer,” according to the complaint.

Zang was allowed by Mar-a-Lago security to enter the property “due to a potential language barrier issue,” the complaint said.

She was then picked up in a golf cart shuttlle by a Mar-a-Lago valet driver, who asked her where she intended to go.

“Zhang responed that she didn’t know where she wanted to go,” the complaint said. “The valet driver then proceeded to drive her to the main reception area.”

The complaint said that after passing by three other Secret Service agents, Zhang exited the golf cart at a Secret Service magnetomert checkpoint, where she spent about 20 seconds “reading the restricted access signage” before passing through the magnetometer.

She then went into the main reception area of the club, according to the complaint.

A receptionist asked her “several times” when she was there, and Zhang “finally responded that she was there for a United Nations Chinese American Association event later in the evening,” the complaint said.

“The Recepitionist knew this event did not exist on property as she has a complete list of events,” the complaint said.

A Secret Service agent then was notified after the receptionist checked all of the access lists for Mar-a-Lago to confirm whether Zhang was approved to be on the property, and found that she was not authorized, according to the complaint.

Zhang reiterated to the agent that she was there for the alleged United Nations event, and showed a document, written in Chinese, that supposedly was her invitation to that non-existent function, the complaint said.

The agent who wrote the complaint noted that Zhang’s claim conflicted with her original claim to the first Secret Service agent, whom she told she was going to the pool. No swimming apparel was later found to be in Zhang’s possession.

Zhang was then taken off the property for further interviews.

According to the complaint, Zhan “freely and without difficulty” talked to the agent in English.

The agent told her that she was not allowed on the resort grounds, and that she had “unlawfully gained access onto the protected grounds,” the complaint said.

“During this interview, Zhang then became verbally agressive with agents and she was detained and transported back to the” Secret Service’s resident office in West Palm Beach, according to the complaint.

At that office, Zhang was advised of her Miranda rights, and she told agents that a Chinese friend named “Charles” had “told her to travel from Shanghai, China, to Palm Beach, Florida, to attend this event and to speak with a member of the President’s family about Chinese and American foreign economic relations,” the complaint said.

Zhang claimed that “she has only spoken” with Charles via WeChat, the most popular instant messaging platform in China, according to the complaint.

The Miamie Herald noted that Yang, the massage parlor operator, has worked with a Chinese event promoter named Charles Lee to promote Safari Night and “other galas and political fundraisers featuring the Trump family at Mar-a-Lago over the past year.”

The complain said that Zhang stated during her interview with the Secret Service that she had not told “agents at the main checkpoint that she was going to the pool,” the complaint said.

@wire28 @Return to Forever @ezrathegreat @Jello Biafra @humble forever @Darth Nubian @Dameon Farrow @General Bravo III @BigMoneyGrip @VR Tripper @Iceson Beckford [ @BaileyPark31 @Lucky_Lefty @johnedwarduado @Armchair Militant @panopticon @88m3

 

[DrBanneker]

I guess they are doing some pre-work for the upcoming trade negotiations huh? Strangely though if she was a state asset couldn't they have just booked a room to get her on site?

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

:ALERTRED:




Mar-a-Lago is the dream soft target for Chinese spies | Spectator USA

​

spectator.us
Mar-a-Lago is the dream soft target for Chinese spies | Spectator USA
John R. Schindler
6-7 minutes
China Donald Trump World

Another espionage scandal hits Trump’s ‘southern White House’

Mar-a-Lago

Strange espionage events with a Chinese flavor are piling up at Mar-A-Lago, President Trump’s home-away-from-home. Awkward questions are now being raised about what’s really going on, including: are the White House’s real spy problems with Beijing rather than Moscow?

In Goldfinger, the British spy-turned-spy-novelist Ian Fleming gave the world the classic line, ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.’ Veteran counterspies generally suspect enemy action well before the third incident, however, and President Trump’s odd Chinese espionage incidents are getting too numerous to ignore.

First, there was the case of Li ‘Cindy’ Yang, a naturalized US citizen born in China, who caused a media sensation last month when it was discovered that since late 2017 she had become a habitué at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort which serves as Trump’s ‘southern White House,’ where the president enjoys entertaining friends, donors, and hangers-on.

Yang was one such, and controversially she previously owned a Florida message parlor where Trump’s billionaire pal Robert Kraft was recently arrested for soliciting prostitution – a scandal which included hints of human trafficking. Furthermore, it turned out that Yang, a self-styled political consultant, had been pushing her access to the president in ads aimed at the Chinese community in Florida. Photos of her with the president and a wide array of Republican notables surfaced, raising questions about what Yang’s access to Trump and his retinue really is.

Making matters worse, it soon emerged that Yang has ties to known fronts for the Communist regime in Beijing. Specifically, she had a leadership role in Florida’s branch of the Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China, which advocates for the union of Taiwan with China on the latter’s terms. The CPPRC, which is known to Western counterintelligence agencies as a front for Beijing, is a subset of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which reports to the party’s central committee. The UFWD exists to push the Beijing line on a wide array of issues, including to overseas Chinese communities. Its importance has risen in recent years, and in 2014 party boss Xi Jinping referred to the UFWD as the Chinese Communists’ ‘magic weapon.’

That was enough to raise serious counterintelligence concerns in Washington, and last month Congressional Democrats demanded an FBI investigation into the Yang affair, asking the Bureau to ‘conduct criminal and counterintelligence investigations into credible allegations of potential human trafficking, as well as unlawful foreign lobbying, campaign finance and other activities by Ms Yang.’

Things went from bad to worse this week with news that over the weekend, a Chinese woman attempted to infiltrate Mar-a-Lago for apparently nefarious purposes. Arrested while attempting to gain access to the ‘southern White House,’ Yujing Zhang was carrying four cellphones, one laptop, one external hard drive and a thumb drive, while that last item, according to the Secret Service, contained ‘malicious malware.’ So far, Zhang has been charged with entering restricted property and making false statements to a Federal officer.

Zhang initially told a Federal agent that she wished to enter Mar-a-Lago to use the swimming pool, but later changed her story, claiming she had come from Shanghai to discuss US-Chinese economic relations with a member of the Trump family. She also made mention of a non-existent United Nations event. Zhang, who was carrying two Chinese passports, had been enticed to the presidential resort by ads run in Chinese-language social media by – you guessed it! – Cindy Yang.

There were two Mar-a-Lago events on the books last weekend, both promoted online by Yang, one of which was advertised as hosted by Elizabeth Trump Grau, the president’s sister. What exactly Zhang was doing at Mar-a-Lago remains uncertain, but the Democrats’ wish has been granted, and there is a Federal counterintelligence investigation in progress regarding these strange Chinese events at the ‘southern White House,’ as the Miami Herald has revealed. This inquiry, led by the FBI, is looking into the Yang and Zhang cases, in an effort to determine how they are linked and, above all, whether these incidents are connected to the Chinese government. Who Zhang really is remains less than clear at this point.

Given known Beijing practices in espionage and political influence operations, which aggressively employ overseas Chinese in spying on the United States and many Western countries, the FBI has good reason to be suspicious about these cases. There’s a bevy of top-priority espionage targets at Mar-a-Lago, relating to the president and the communications he uses when he is in residence there. Beijing’s interest in such matters would be difficult to overstate. For spies, the ‘southern White House’ – with all the secrets of the real one but few of its defenses against espionage – represents a dream soft-target.

What’s going on down at Mar-a-Lago – including what, if anything, President Trump and his staff have connections to or knowledge of – is a question which needs an answer before there’s a third Chinese spy incident there, removing any doubt that this is enemy action, as Ian Fleming would say.