In Risky Hunt for Secrets, U.S. and China Expand Global Spy Operations

"“What is the secretary of state really thinking?"

"They say China’s main intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, aims to place agents or recruit assets across the U.S. government, as well as in technology companies and the defense industry."

"And in August, the Ministry of State Security announced that “all members of society” should help fight foreign spying, and offered rewards for anyone providing information."

"But in details reported here for the first time, they discovered that when Mr. Xi learned of the balloon’s trajectory and realized it was derailing planned talks with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, he berated senior generals for failing to tell him that the balloon had gone astray, according to American officials briefed on the intelligence."

"u201dBut critics say some of the U.S. governmentu2019s counterintelligence efforts are racially biased and paranoid, amounting to a new Red Scare u2014 a charge at least partly supported by the cases the Justice Department has had to drop and by its shutdown of the Trump-era China Initiative program."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Credit...Aly Song/ReutersMore recently, a sophisticated, highly targeted penetration of Microsoftu2019s cloud computing platform gave China access to the emails of senior State Department diplomats, including the American ambassador in Beijing and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Chinese agents are now trying to learn more about the Biden administrationu2019s efforts to outfit Taiwan with certain weapons systems and provide secret training for Taiwanese troops."

This is a negative sentiment.

"For Washington, the espionage efforts are a critical part of President Bidenu2019s strategy to constrain the military and technological rise of China, in line with his thinking that the country poses the greatest long-term challenge to American power."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Credit...Yan Zhao/Agence France-Presse u2014 Getty Imagesu201cWhat is it all for?u201d asked Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Houseu2019s new China committee, referring to Beijingu2019s espionage efforts."

This is a negative sentiment.

"President Biden has declared that the U.S. military will defend Taiwan should China try to seize the island."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But whether Mr. Biden really means that u2014 and whether American leaders plan to permanently keep Taiwan out of Chinau2019s reach u2014 are believed to be focal points of some of Chinau2019s intelligence efforts."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Mr. Biden has declared four times that the U.S. military will defend Taiwan should China try to seize the island."

This is a positive sentiment.