PRC INTELLIGENCE RECRUITING VIA LINKEDIN – FIVE EYES
The Five Eyes international intelligence partnership has issued a rare joint bulletin warning that Chinese spies are using professional networking platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed to recruit collaborators. The intelligence agencies of Britain, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all pointed to China's systematic efforts to recruit and compromise their government and military personnel. Posing as consultants, human resources professionals or think tank staff, Chinese intelligence officers place online job advertisements for foreign policy and defense analysts with an eye toward "acquiring privileged military, political and economic intelligence." Primary targets include military personnel, analysts with security clearances, as well as academics and writers. The bulletin documents a five-step plan for recruitment, including the commissioning of reports for a few hundred to several thousand dollars each, based on information about China, defense, and the Indo-Pacific. Last year, MI5 warned that PRC agents were targeting British MPs using LinkedIn. (Politico, June 3, 2026)
U.S. JOURNALIST FACES UP TO 10 YEARS FOR WORKING AS PRC AGENT
Thomas Weir Pauken II, 50, faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting to "being part of a conspiracy to obtain sensitive information from the U.S. government" for China. According to court documents, Pauken, who had been living in China since 2010, working for state media outlets including CCTV and Xinhua, acted "at the direction and control of people he knew worked for the PRC" from at least 2019 until February this year. His handler, identified as "Cathy," provided him with "taskings, including meeting with potential intelligence assets," for which he received at least $100,000. At her request, Pauken traveled to the U.S. several times between 2019 and 2025 to "gather intelligence on his American targets and report it back to his Chinese intelligence handlers," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. (BBC, June 5, 2026)
CHINESE COMPONENTS SUPPLY RUSSIA'S DRONE FACTORIES
China is supplying Russia with the components to build thousands of Shahed drones, allowing Moscow to break records in drone production and strikes on Ukraine. The latest Shahed variants, using Chinese electronics and programmable microchips, have better range, lower radar cross-sections, and more sophisticated anti-jamming systems. In 2023, the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia's Tatarstan region began production under a $1.75 billion deal with Tehran, building an average of 256 per month; today, it produces about 5,500 units per month. The cost per drone has fallen from $20,000 in 2022 to $7,000–$10,000 today. To disguise the flow of Chinese components, there has been a systematic effort to "sanitize trade data," making it harder to track what is being sold. "China is effectively the number one backer of Russia's military-industrial complex," said Spencer Faragasso of the Institute for Science and International Security. In April, Russia launched more than 8,000 drones at Ukraine, the highest monthly total since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. (The Telegraph, May 29, 2026)
CHINA REVERSES ECONOMIC OPENING UP
Beijing wants to prevent money, technology, and companies from leaving the country. This week, the State Council issued new rules requiring national security screening for Chinese companies looking to invest overseas. They extend oversight to the overseas activities of Chinese companies and describe how Beijing could retaliate against foreign companies and individuals. The rules also give the authorities new powers to scrutinize Chinese companies looking to invest abroad, creating a national security review procedure that categorizes foreign investments as encouraged, restricted, or prohibited. In April, new regulations were issued allowing authorities to intervene if foreign companies try to relocate their supply chains out of China. Beijing also blocked Meta's $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Chinese AI company; told U.S.-sanctioned Chinese refineries not to comply; and ordered a security equipment company not to cooperate with European Union investigators. "We've moved away from a world where laws made it easier to allow the flow of capital, people, technology, and trade to go around," said Ben Kostrzewa of Hogan Lovells in Hong Kong. (New York Times, June 6, 2026)
INDIA'S TATA WILL USE CHINESE TECH FOR ITS EVS
Tata Motors' new automaking platform will be based on Chinese technology. The Avinya, the first model produced on Chery's Freelander platform, will be shipped from China as a kit and assembled in India next year. India's biggest electric carmaker will use the platform to produce the cars at its new factory in Tamil Nadu. While Chinese carmakers remain shut out of the Indian auto market, their technology is quietly becoming ubiquitous. Chery's platform will grant Tata access to features and technology it would otherwise take longer and more capital to develop. (MSN, June 3, 2026)
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