Five Eyes Nations Warn Against China’s ‘Sophisticated’ Intellectual Property Theft

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing about oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 12, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Five Eyes nations’ security chiefs have warned about China’s “sophisticated” theft of intellectual property, with FBI Director Christopher Wray calling China the “biggest threat” to the countries’ innovation.

Mr. Wray gathered leaders from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance—the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—and business leaders on Oct. 17 to discuss China’s threat.

The summit, held in California’s Silicon Valley, marked their first ever joint public gathering, according to a press release from the FBI.

At the summit, Mr. Wray said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—which rules China as a one-party state—was stealing information on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biometrics, and robotics, among others.

“There is no greater threat to innovation than the Chinese government, and it is a measure of how seriously the five of us in our services take that threat,” he said, according to The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Wray said the FBI has seen about a “1,300 percent increase” in investigations over the past several years pertaining “to attempts to steal intellectual property or other secrets by some form of the Chinese government, or some arm of the Chinese government.”

“It wasn’t that long ago when I checked we were opening a new investigation, again, specifically focused on China and its efforts to steal intellectual property and other secrets, about every 12 hours,” he said.

CCP ‘Goes Beyond Traditional Espionage’

Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) chief Mike Burgess acknowledged that “all nations spy” and seek strategic advantage, but he said the CCP’s behavior “goes beyond traditional espionage.”

Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Mike Burgess speaks during a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security hearing at Parliament House in Canberra, on Aug. 7, 2020. Lukas Coch/AAP Image

Mr. Burgess said the CCP engaged “in the most sustained, scaled, and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history,” and that the extent of the theft was “unprecedented.”

He said ASIO had thwarted a plot to infiltrate an Australian research institution last month. The case involved a visiting academic professor who, as he noted, had been recruited by Chinese intelligence.

“Their spymaster gave them money and a shopping list of intelligence requirements and sent them to Australia. The academic even set his Australian Ph.D. students’ research assignments in line with his intelligence requirements.

“Working with the research institution, ASIO intervened and removed that academic from the country before that harm could be done. This sort of thing is happening every day in Australia, as it is in the countries here,” he said, according to ABC News.

‘Rules of Games Have Changed’

David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said that while Western companies and universities should remain open to attracting talents from China, they must understand that “the rules of games have changed.”

“The Chinese Communist Party has passed legislation to force any person of Chinese origin anywhere in the world to support their intelligence services,” Mr. Vigneault said at the summit.

“It means they have a way to coerce people here in our countries to essentially tell them, to give them the secrets,” he added.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) 2022 report revealed that China has continued to engage in espionage against Canadian academic institutions, defense contractors, and civil society organizations.

“As a global leader in research and innovation, Canada is a prime target for the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] intangible technology transfer efforts,” the report reads.

“China targets research through legal, illegal and other unregulated means in order to augment its science and technology sector.”

The CSIS stated that the CCP had established policies that exploit the “collaborative, transparent, and open nature” of Canada’s research and innovation sector in order to serve China’s interests. Chinese citizens, entrepreneurs, foreign scientists, and diaspora are encouraged to commit espionage against Canadian companies and institutions.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.