It’s prolific, increasing and essential for China.

China is America’s nemesis when it comes to economic espionage. About 80 per cent of all economic espionage prosecutions brought by the US Department of Justice allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state. One 2017 estimate put the cost to the US of stolen trade secrets, pirated software and counterfeiting by China at between $225bn and $600bn a year. A new series of Financial Times podcasts on the US-China tech rivalry quotes US intelligence sources as saying the Chinese Communist party’s drive to acquire US intellectual property is becoming “more and more aggressive”.

This characterisation follows a statement in 2020 by FBI director Christopher Wray. He said that counter-intelligence and espionage from China represent the “greatest long-term threat” to US economic vitality. Such thefts, he added, amount to one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history.

An FBI agent in Silicon Valley told the FT that Chinese spies are seeking to acquire knowhow in a “breathtaking” range of technologies, including biotech, nanotech, agricultural technology, quantum computing and others. Much of this activity is thought to go undetected but cases coming to light show a sharp upward trend.

About 73 per cent of 137 publicly reported instances of Chinese-linked espionage against the US since 2000 have taken place in the past decade, according to CSIS, a Washington-based think-tank. A new counter-intelligence case against China is opened, on average, every 12 hours, the FBI says.