These methods, along with bugging hotel rooms and staging elaborate ‘honey traps,’ mean that China poses “one of the most significant espionage threats to the U.K.,” a leaked report from MI5 states.
The report, seen by the Sunday Times newspaper, claimed that most of the efforts to steal company secrets came from the agents working within the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Ministry of Public Security.
“Any U.K. company might be at risk if it holds information which would benefit the Chinese,” the report says.
The 14-page “restricted” report, written by MI5’s Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure, claims that Chinese agents have attacked U.K. defense, energy, communications, and manufacturing companies.
It comes at a time of strained diplomatic relations between the U.K. and China. Last month, Beijing executed a British man suffering from mental illness who was accused of attempting to smuggle heroin into the country.
Chinese agents have also attempted to steal state secrets through sexual entrapment. Two years ago, an aide to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had his BlackBerry phone stolen by a Chinese woman who had made advances to him at a nightclub.
The MI5 report claims that the tactics of sexual entrapment have now been extended to the private sector, with agents attempting to cultivate “long-term relationships” with key employees.
“An undercover intelligence officer may try to develop a friendship or business relationship, often using lavish hospitality and flattery,” the report states, according to the Sunday Times.
“Chinese intelligence services have also been known to exploit vulnerabilities such as sexual relationships and illegal activities to pressurize individuals to cooperate with them.
“Hotel rooms in major Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, which are frequented by foreigners, are likely to be bugged ... hotel rooms have been searched while the occupants are out of the room.”
The report also contains a warning about any apparently generous advances at trade fairs. “During conferences or visits to Chinese companies you may be given gifts such as USB devices or cameras. There have been cases where these “gifts” have contained Trojan devices and other types of malware.”
The report, titled “The Threat from Chinese Espionage,” was circulated to hundreds of business leaders in London last year.
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