Official China Discussion Thread

Chinese cyberespionage costs U.S. companies an estimated $300 billion annually and comprises the "single greatest threat to U.S. technology," according to a new report by the Washington, D.C-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

China is using its vast cyberespionage capabilities to steal intellectual property from U.S. businesses, gain the upper hand in economic negotiations, and put pressure on foreign governments, according to the report. These activities have allowed China to advance rapidly, overtake the U.S. in certain key industries and even gain some military advantages.

"For years, the Chinese government has engaged in cyber-enabled economic espionage and other covert and clandestine activities to strengthen China's economic competitiveness and strategic position. China is estimated to be responsible for 50 to 80 percent of cross-border intellectual property theft worldwide, and over 90 percent of cyber-enabled economic espionage in the United States," the report noted.

China employs around 30,000 military cyber spies and around 150,000 private sector cyber experts who aim to steal U.S. military and technological secrets, according to FBI estimates. In June, for example, it was revealed that Chinese hackers had successfully breached a private military contractor and stole large quantities of data that revealed details of U.S. plans for underwater warfare.

Another recent example was the case of Chinese hackers based in China's Tsinghua University who probed U.S companies and the Alaskan state government for vulnerabilities in the wake of a visit to China by a U.S. trade delegation. Researchers claimed the hackers were looking for ways to gain inside information that would give China an advantage in trade negotiations.

"For China, there are levels of economic and industrial espionage. There's also the technique of gaining access to non-public knowledge and using that to their benefit in trade negotiations. We've seen this in Alaska," Priscilla Moriuchi, director of strategic threat development at Massachusetts-based tech company Recorded Future and former threat manager for East Asia and Pacific at the National Security Agency (NSA), told Newsweek.

"After a company makes overtures to China, about a joint venture or investment, you would see hackers targeting the server or executive to see what they thought of the meeting."

The report began by noting that the U.S. and China are currently locked in intense political, economic and military competition, and that Beijing's cyber capabilities are helping the country gain a strategic advantage. China is rapidly developing technologies that can be used for both commercial and military purposes, like artificial intelligence, facial recognition software, robotics and virtual reality. In August, China also conducted its first successful test of a hypersonic aircraft, which U.S. military experts warn could be used to penetrate U.S. missile defense systems.

Despite all that, economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs argued that the U.S. foreign policy establishment is too preoccupied with competition and is missing important opportunities for cooperation.

"China is, in my view, a highly successful, highly productive, highly creative society and we should be working together to have strong mutual economic relations," Sachs told Newsweek. "We have tremendous opportunities. We're going to buy a lot of good products from China. We can build infrastructure and help each other. My view is that is what China wants. But the foreign policy establishment says China wants dominance. As an economist, I stand back and say, neither country will be dominant."

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The landmark deal between China and the Vatican is a win for Beijing, giving official recognition to bishops appointed by the government despite a crackdown on religion, and potentially softening the ground for full diplomatic relations after 67 years of estrangement, analysts said.

The two sides signed a provisional agreement on Saturday on who gets to name senior churchmen, an issue that has bedevilled ties for decades, and China quickly said it hoped for an improvement in relations.

That is bound to mean consequences for self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, and which has watched helplessly in recent years as its giant neighbour has picked off its few remaining diplomatic partners.

With its outsized international influence, the Vatican is the most important of Taiwan's 17 remaining friends, and its only European partner.

The agreement on bishops makes no mention of diplomatic relations, but some see the writing on the wall.

"It's difficult not to see this as the first step towards a switch," said Jonathan Sullivan, a China expert at the University of Nottingham.

"It's not on the cards yet, but Beijing has made no secret of its desire to poach Taiwan's most important remaining ally."

Ying Fuk-tsang, a professor of divinity at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Beijing is bound to use any new leverage to seek the Holy See's recognition.

The current Taiwan government has taken a toughened line against Beijing, which knows that turning the Vatican would be "a major blow to Taiwan's diplomacy," Ying said.

- 'Sinicisation' of religion -

Beijing and the Vatican severed ties in 1951, two years after the Communist Party seized power.

The party tolerates no alternative power centres and a decades-long impasse has played out over who presides over the now roughly 12 million-strong Catholic faithful — communist-approved prelates or those who preach to "underground" pro-Rome churches.

Since taking office in 2013, Pope Francis has sought to improve ties with China.

As part of the deal, the pope recognised seven Beijing-appointed bishops. No other details were disclosed.

The apparent Vatican concession is striking because it comes as China is waging a broad religious crackdown.

President Xi Jinping has moved aggressively to tighten the Communist Party's grip on all aspects of society, including worship.

Top leaders have recently called for the "Sinicisation" of religion, code for greater party control.

In China's remote western Xinjiang region, UN estimates say one million members of Muslim minorities are held in internment camps where rights groups say they face communist indoctrination.

Christian worshippers and clergy in central China told AFP recently that "illegal" churches were being raided or bulldozed, and religious materials confiscated.

Churches have been required to display the national flag while removing religious imagery from public-facing spaces, and paperwork seen by AFP shows clergy are being pressured to divulge personal information about parishioners.

Underground clergy told AFP they remain fearful because the agreement does not mention safeguards for them or their followers, with one priest saying worshippers "doubt the sincerity" of the government.

An official priest in close contact with the underground community said that while the deal solves the problem of the seven bishops, it says nothing about how future bishops will be appointed.

"And it cannot solve the real problem and situation of the church."

- 'Not a zero-sum game' -

China's religious crackdown has drawn growing overseas criticism, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday deploring "awful abuses" in Xinjiang.

He added that Christians were suffering too as authorities are "closing churches, burning Bibles" or forcing them "to renounce their faith."

But Francesco Sisci, an Italian Sinologist at China's Renmin University, said a rapprochement could provide the Vatican with now-scarce leverage in China because it will now get at least some recognition from Beijing.

"It's not a football match, it's not a zero-sum game. Both sides hopefully gained a lot in this," Sisci said.

"It is true that dozens of churches are being torn down, at least partially. But thousands more are standing or being built."

"It will be not be easy, but if the Vatican doesn't try to help now, when should it?"

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that he will have the last word on naming bishops in China after a "bilateral dialogue" on candidates, days after an historic accord paved the way for rapprochement between the Vatican and the Communist country.

Roman Catholics belonging to the underground church in China that recognises only the authority of the Vatican will also "suffer" because of the deal signed on Saturday, the pope admitted aboard the plane flying back after a visit to the Baltic states.

"It's not just about nominations, this is a dialogue about possible candidates. It's done through dialogue," Francis told journalists aboard his plane. "But Rome names (the bishops). The pope names them. That's clear."

Beijing and the Vatican on Saturday announced a provisional deal on who appoints bishops in the world's most populous country.

Shortly afterwards Pope Francis recognised seven clergy appointed by Beijing, which has not had ties with the Vatican since 1951.

There are an estimated 12 million Catholics in China, divided between a government-run association whose clergy are chosen by the Communist Party and an unofficial church which swears allegiance to the Vatican.

The Vatican had not yet released details of the accord and had avoided mentioning the process through which future bishops would be nominated.

"My thoughts are with the resistance, the Catholics who have suffered, it's true," the pope said of the Chinese underground church.

"And they will suffer. There's always suffering in an accord."

Pope Francis has sought to improve relations with China since he took office in 2013, but previous attempts foundered over Beijing's insistence that the Vatican give up recognition of Taiwan and promise not to interfere in domestic religious issues.

The Holy See is one of only 17 countries that recognise Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, instead of diplomatic ties with Beijing.

The breakthrough came as churches have been destroyed in some Chinese regions in recent months, and there has been a clampdown on Bible sales. Crosses have been removed from church tops, printed religious materials and holy items confiscated, and church-run kindergartens closed.

Following the announcement, the pontiff recognised seven bishops who had been ordained in China without the approval of the Holy See.

The pope also posthumously recognised an eighth bishop who "had expressed the desire to be reconciled with the Apostolic See" before he died last year, it said.

The Vatican cut ties with Beijing two years after the founding of the communist People's Republic.