‘Soft Targets’: Chinese Spies Have Been Exploiting US Politicians for Decades, Says Expert

A report that a suspected Chinese spy spent years cozying up to local and national-level politicians reveals that Beijing is investing significantly in long-term espionage operations to infiltrate U.S. politics, an expert said.

Fang developed close ties to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who in early 2015 became a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She first knew Swalwell when he was a local city council member. Fang later fundraised for the congressman’s 2014 reelection campaign, and facilitated the placement of an intern in his office, the outlet reported.

She also had romantic or sexual relationships with two unnamed mayors of Midwestern cities, Axios said.

The operation was “beautifully handled” in the way it combined both intelligence gathering and political influence, said Nicholas Eftimiades, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and author of the book “Chinese Intelligence Operations,” in an interview with The Epoch Times.

“When you have access to that, why do you need classified information?” Eftimiades said.

“You’re basically jumping over the secret world, and getting to the infrastructure that controls the nation,” he said. “And that infrastructure is, ironically, not protected.”

Congress members, not required to have security clearances, have been particularly vulnerable to covert influence and spying efforts for decades, Eftimiades said.

Feinstein, who was chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2009 to 2015 and remains on the committee today, issued a statement at the time, saying the FBI had briefed her about the staffer in 2013. She said the worker didn’t have access to classified information, and that he left her office after the briefing.

Ratcliffe said that he has briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees that Beijing is “targeting members of Congress with six times the frequency of Russia and 12 times the frequency of Iran.”

Pompeo said the ultimate goal of the regime’s malign influence activities is to “make Americans receptive to Beijing’s form of authoritarianism.”

Benjamin Pierce Bishop was a retired Army lieutenant who held a top-secret security clearance working as a contractor in the U.S. Pacific Command. In 2014, the then-60-year-old admitted to emailing secrets about joint training and planning sessions between the United States and South Korea. The recipient was an unnamed 27-year-old Chinese woman who was doing graduate studies in the United States.

The pair had met in 2011 at an international defense conference in Hawaii. They became friends, then lovers. According to an FBI affidavit filed in the case, the woman may have been targeting individuals with access to classified information at the conference.

Separating Chinese efforts from other nations, the regime has perfected an integrated, holistic approach to subversion of Western democracies.

“It’s this coordinated effort, a global effort that interlinks espionage, influence, propaganda, and diplomacy,” Eftimiades said.

“China’s efforts go from its diplomatic efforts to its collection and influence efforts against the political infrastructure, to information efforts online, even down to their online trolls,” he added.

To combat this, Eftimiades said the United States should develop a consistent policy approach to deal with the Chinese regime.

“Congress needs to put this into legislation,” he said, covering key issues such as how the United States views its relationship with the regime, and its goals and objectives for the relationship over the next decades.

In addition, intelligence agencies need to work more with Congress members and officials at sub-national levels of government, to prepare them for potential interactions with Chinese influence or intelligence agents.

“It’s a matter of coordination and sharing information, sharing best practices, making people understand that they have a responsibility in protecting national security,” he said.