A Czech national intelligence agency report highlights the Chinese regime’s covert operations, including using fake LinkedIn identities and offering money to gather information and build a network of influencers in the Czech Republic to further its interests.
“Falling into China‘s sphere of influence means gradually surrendering technological and strategic know-how to a system representing a different socio-economic concept based on communist dictatorship, which is corrosive to the fundamental principles of our civilization, namely democracy and the free market.”
The agency said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has utilized its diplomatic mission to gather information about Prague’s political landscape as part of its influence operations within the Czech Republic.
Influencing Academia and Politics
One method they’ve been using in approaching Czech academics is to create fake identities on LinkedIn, posing as representatives from fictitious consulting or headhunting companies in Hong Kong and Singapore.The intelligence operatives would then request reports or studies “in areas corresponding to China’s political interests,” offering “financial reward” under the guise of professional cooperation, the report said.
“These studies generally serve as a preliminary step toward further cooperation, involving the provision of specific information.”
Once foreign scholars agree to produce these reports, Chinese agents might invite them to visit China, with Beijing covering all expenses. The objective was to “create a network of contacts who feel indebted and may be inclined to support Chinese interests in the Czech Republic in the future,” the agency stated.
According to the report, in addition to researchers, these invitations to visit China could be extended to former and current political figures, representatives from national and local governments, and influential business leaders.
“Participants may be approached by Chinese intelligence services, or their presence may be used for propaganda purposes, not to mention that there can also be a certain sense of obligation created by the hospitality of the Chinese, which they would be willing to exploit at a later date.”
Efforts to Silence Critics
In addition to targeting influential figures, the Czech intelligence agency also sounded alarms over the CCP’s efforts to silence critics while promoting its propaganda.“Whenever the Chinese learn of an event in the Czech Republic where negative comments about China might appear, it begins to take systematic steps to obtain sensitive information about the location, content, and participants of the event,” it stated.
In 2023, the Czech intelligence service monitored the “cooperation between Czech and Chinese media scenes,” finding that Chinese content was being distributed mainly to smaller local TV channels to influence the Czech public’s perception of China.
The Chinese content shows “only the positive aspects of the communist regime while completely omitting or denying any trampling of human rights, oppression of ethnic minorities, and territorial aggression.”
“For China, its image in the eyes of the domestic audience and foreign partners is highly important, which is why it has long been trying to suppress any information that damages the image of a hegemon promoting global peace and order.”