The intelligence agencies of the US, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have been cooperating closely on countering China’s “foreign activities” since the start of the year, Reuters reports.
The so-called Five Eyes network is also sharing intelligence with allies such as Germany and Japan, in what has become a multinational coalition against Beijing’s alleged foreign meddling. Washington and its partners have accused China of using foreign investments to pull political strings – an accusation that Beijing denies.
“Consultations with our allies, with like-minded partners, on how to respond to China’s assertive international strategy have been frequent and are gathering momentum,” a US official told Reuters. The unnamed source added that informal discussions on the matter have quickly turned into “detailed consultations on best practices and further opportunities for cooperation.”
The intelligence-sharing network’s new focus on China was prompted, at least in part, by Germany’s decision to prevent a Chinese investment fund’s acquisition of German semiconductor firm Aixtron in 2016. The German government had initially approved the takeover, only to reverse its decision a month later after US officials reportedly “raised security concerns that Berlin had overlooked.
