"Chinese intelligence operatives are on a par with the Russians"

Western spy chiefs say that sophistication of Beijing's intelligence operations is now comparable to the Kremlin's.
There is growing fear in Europe that the Chinese spy and counter-intelligence services represent an ever-increasing threat to Europe, even greater than the one coming from Russia.
"Chinese intelligence is no less dangerous. Moreover, their espionage operations are now even better than the Russian ones," confirmed a former senior CIA official for Europe.
China is already well known for advanced cyber attacks, such as the 2021 Microsoft hack, which compromised 30.000 organisations globally and which the US, EU and UK said was carried out by criminal groups working at Beijing's behest. China denied the allegations, calling them "groundless and irresponsible".
However, the method of collecting data through direct human action on the ground (HUMINT) is increasingly advanced, which was interpreted in the West as a signal for alarm.
"The Russians have been doing espionage since before the Soviet Union, they love it," says the former head of the British intelligence agency MI6, Alex Younger, pointing out that the Chinese have weaker software capabilities when it comes to artificial intelligence, but are getting dangerously close to Russian know-how.
MI5 chief Ken McCallum says the Chinese Communist Party is investing heavily in the development of espionage. "We are not crying 'wolf!', but this is a serious security threat," he concludes, his warning all the more stark as it came amid Russia's assault on Ukraine, Europe's biggest security threat.
Another intelligence officer says that Chinese espionage is not similar to Russian espionage, in the sense that it is very difficult to tell who is and who is not an agent. ...