Brest is a rainy industrial port, surrounded by the Atlantic, and is home to the French Navy and nuclear deterrent submarines. She has also witnessed a significant number of weddings in recent years between Chinese female students and sailors working at naval bases.
"What should we make of such relations," asked one concerned lawmaker of the head of France's nuclear submarine force at a closed-door meeting in the Paris parliament.
So-called "honey traps" - situations in which an agent tries to romantically connect with his target - are a frequent theme of exciting spy thrillers. They are also an indication of how China's espionage operations have expanded in Europe, culminating in a series of public arrests last month.
Three German nationals have been detained on suspicion of trying to sell sensitive military technology to China. Police also arrested a staff member of a right-wing German MEP accused of secretly working for China. Meanwhile, British prosecutors charged two men with allegedly spying for Beijing, one of whom was a parliamentary researcher.
Although Admiral Moriot de Ile reportedly warned French lawmakers about weddings in Brest in 2019, current and former intelligence officials have said the latest incidents are more typical of China's espionage efforts in Europe.
According to one official, there were examples of so-called "seeding" by Beijing, which refers to operations in which it patiently tries to build political influence and shape European attitudes towards China. This has become increasingly important for Beijing, as European decision makers increasingly view China, and its strategic relationship with Russia, as a security threat rather than a source of economic opportunity.
"The Chinese are spying more and more, and Western intelligence services are getting better at detecting it," said Nigel Inkster, former director of operations at MI6.
"Unlike the US, Chinese intelligence agencies have so far been less active in Europe. However, since the EU has taken a tougher stance towards China, we can expect more operations to expand influence”.
China's foreign minister last Sunday dismissed the latest espionage allegations - which emerged shortly after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz returned from a three-day visit to China.
"The intention is obvious, which is to discredit and suppress China and undermine the atmosphere of cooperation between China and the EU," said the spokesperson of the Chinese ministry.
However, in a call to action to state spy agencies, Chen Yixin, Minister of State Security, said last Monday that China must organize a "powerful offensive". Its agencies must conduct special "counter-espionage operations" in order to "decisively detect" and "eliminate traitors," Chen told a Communist Party newspaper.
Western intelligence and security analysts have said that China's espionage activities, particularly those run by the civilian spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, are real. What is more worrying are the indications that there is an intertwining with Russian networks that have penetrated European political extremes.
"China and Russia have common goals that they jointly promote when it serves their interests." Both strive to undermine the position of Western countries," warned the Finnish Security Intelligence Service last year.
Founded in 1983, China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) is a civilian secret police described by the US as a combination of the FBI and the CIA. It reaches across Chinese society, with the agency responsible for counterintelligence efforts as well as the political security of the communist regime.
He is also accused of wide-ranging espionage and foreign influence operations, along with the theft of foreign intelligence and technology.
Unlike its more centralized Western counterparts, the MSS conducts some of its espionage operations from provincial centers, according to Western officials. The Shanghai bureau usually leads the way in American espionage, while Zhejiang focuses on Europe.
The central MSS agent in Europe in recent years, Daniel Wu, encouraged Frank Krejelman, a former Belgian senator, to influence discussions in Europe on topics ranging from China's suppression of democracy in Hong Kong to the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Wu is also believed to have been the Chinese contact for other far-right politicians who expressed sympathy for Russia.
What worries Western intelligence services are indications that there is an overlap between Chinese espionage activities and Russian networks that have penetrated European political extremes
"China and Russia are following the same authoritarian playbook: sowing seeds of doubt about democracy and gaining influence among groups that challenge existing political divisions, through patient drip-drip action," said Dan Lomas, assistant professor of international relations at the University. in Nottingham.
"The goal is to create discord," he added. “Russia and China are not creating problems; problems are created by democracies themselves. Instead, the approach is to open up those issues by fostering support among extremist groups”.
The scale of Chinese espionage operations in Europe is potentially large. In 2019, the European External Action Service reportedly warned that there were around 250 known Chinese spies in Brussels, compared to 200 Russian agents.
Britain's Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee warned late last year that the scale of China's state intelligence apparatus "almost certainly the largest in the world, with hundreds of thousands of plainclothes intelligence agents" was "a challenge for our agencies".
By contrast, Britain's MI6 and M15 have a combined strength of around 9000, according to the latest figures available.
In addition, China conducts extensive cyber operations across international borders.
Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, warned in January that China could deploy hackers that outnumber his agency by at least 50 times.
Intelligence officials and analysts say one reason for the increased European focus on Chinese espionage is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This expanded the agency's operations, which since 2001 have shifted their focus from state threats to the fight against terrorism. It also led to greater inter-agency cooperation.
"The shock of the invasion led to the fact that national partners, who were not always cooperating, are now actually cooperating," said one Western official. "Combining data provides better information and enables better connectivity".
China's economic power and geopolitical weight mean that European policy towards China will remain more nuanced than towards Russia.
"There is always a debate as to whether China represents a security threat or an economic opportunity," said Lomas. "That debate will continue as long as China is an economic superpower that plays by the international rules of the game."
However, the debate may be changing. At the end of last year, Italy officially crossed paths with China's Belt and Road Initiative. Last week, Brussels raided the offices of Nuktek, a Chinese security equipment supplier, as part of new powers.
At the same time, while European intelligence agencies are cooperating more, it is possible that the same is true of Chinese and Russian spy networks.
Adam Ni, publisher of the China Neican newsletter, said European far-right groups could provide fertile ground.
While many European groups would not work for foreign spies, some might willingly cooperate with Moscow and Beijing.
"They want to emulate some aspects of the Russian and Chinese models," Ni said. "There is a tendency to ... agree with them on an ever-increasing range of topics."
Filip Jarusch, an intelligence analyst at the Jameston Foundation in Washington, agrees and points to specific figures such as Ladislav Zemanek, a right-wing Czech politician who is listed as an associate of the Kremlin-sponsored Valdai Club and is targeted for sanctions in Ukraine.
While China and Russia "continue to cooperate, individuals are likely to work for both authoritarian states," Jarus wrote recently. "As far-right movements enter the mainstream, the risk of PRC intelligence influencing European politics through Russian networks will continue to grow."
When asked for a comment, Zemanek told the Financial Times. "The spirit of McCarthyism has been revived, our fundamental rights are under attack". He said that journalists "should focus on investigations into American influence in Europe and their interference in our affairs instead of helping the Americans sow discord between countries."
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