Corrosive tactics, strategic objectives, and espionage; A deeper look into the Thousand Talents Plan

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“The TTP used corrosive tactics, which are done to advance the economic and strategic objectives of hostile states.” Canadian Security Intelligence Service

When you hear the words: corrosive tactics, strategic objectives, espionage, and hacking, your thoughts might go to the last James bond movie you watched on Netflix. It makes sense why your mind would go there, but what if I told you that issues like this are happening in real time, internationally, and have been happening for over ten years.

China has long been suspected of engaging in hacking and intellectual property theft. Many of us have heard of the telecommunication corporation called Nortel. Did you know that in the early 2000’s Chinese hackers were involved in the downfall of Nortel, which some have linked to the rise of Huawei?

It is a well-known fact that countries will actively seek to attract talent from outside their country. What has brought some concern to international security surveillance agencies is the way in which countries like China go about recruiting talent. Many of the Chinese recruitment programs make deals with individual researchers rather than institutions. Why would they do this? Well, because it makes it easier for partnerships to fly under the radar.

This can, and still does raise conflicts of interest. Over 60,000 scientists have been recruited through over 200 talent recruitment programs since 2008. It was determined that this was a concentrated effort by the Chinese government to gain technology and talent from abroad.

The Chinese government has actively established more than 600 recruitment stations globally, which includes: 146 in the US, 57 each in Germany and Australia, and more than 40 each in the UK, Canada, Japan and France (https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/turning-the-spotlight-on-chinas-global-effort-to-recruit-scientists/).

In the US alone, 54 scientists have lost their jobs for failing to disclose this external funding, and more than 20 have been charged on espionage and fraud allegations related to talent-recruitment activity, including: visa fraud, grant fraud and economic espionage.

It is time to introduce you to the Thousand Talents Plan.

The Thousand Talents Plan is a Chinese government program to attract scientists and engineers from overseas. They have recruited thousands of researchers from countries including: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Canada, Japan, France and Australia.

This plan was developed by The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to lure top scientific talent. What is their goal? Their goal is to make China the world’s leader in science and technology by 2050. There are surmounting issues that are tied to this plan, including the fact that the CCP uses the plan to obtain technologies and expertise, and arguably, Intellectual Properties from overseas by illegal or non-transparent means.

In the 2019 report, Threats to the US Research Enterprise: China’s talent recruitment plans, the United States Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said that the Chinese Communist Party is intimately involved with the TTP.

What they have done is have Chinese scientists and students sign legally binding contracts to “set up ‘shadow labs’ in China, to work on research identical to projects found in other countries. The Chinese government has also established more than 600 ‘talent-recruitment stations’ around the world. The overseas organisations receive up to $30,000 for general operating costs each year, and large bonuses for each individual they recruit.

There are some enticing incentives that go along with being part of this plan including: permanent residency, multi-entry visas, and universities are able to attract top talent without having to tap into previously allocated programme funding.

“China is a significant and clear threat.” David Vigneault (Canada’s spy chief)

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has long warned the country’s universities and research institutions that Beijing is using academic recruitment programs to attract scientists to China in hopes of obtaining cutting-edge science and technology for economic and military advantage (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile.php?story=20200908095917276).

There was focused attention on the Chinese government’s recruitment strategies, when renowned Harvard nanotechnology expert Charles Lieber, was arrested and charged with hiding his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Plan in January 2020.

Why is there so much concern about this? Well, on top of intellectual property issues, there are serious human rights concerns. There has been technology that has been transferred to China, which has been used in the oppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and in society-wide facial recognition and other forms of surveillance. There is also this concern that uncontrolled technology transfers to China could end up in weapon programs. In one case, Chinese intelligence officers used a Thousand Talents Plan scholar to steal aviation technology from the United States.

David Vigneault  (Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) has warned that certain foreign intelligence services, “especially those in China and Russia” were engaged in the “monitoring and/or coercion” of: students, faculty and university officials in an effort to further their political influence (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile.php?story=20200908095917276).

The Chinese government has failed to acknowledge the concerning activities associated with its talent programs. In fact, its recruitment programs have only become more secretive and covert in recent years. It is important that governments and research institutions work together to build awareness of CCP programs like the Thousand Talents Plan.