The latest congressional report on the Chinese Communist Party’s espionage operations in the United States should erase any illusions: Beijing is waging an intelligence war against America, and for too long, Washington let it happen. The CCP Threat Snapshot, released in February 2025, lays out a sprawling effort to steal military and corporate secrets, infiltrate political and economic institutions, and silence dissidents—all in service of undermining American power from within. The numbers are staggering: more than 60 confirmed cases of Chinese espionage on U.S. soil in just the past four years. But what’s worse is how little was done to stop it.
Take the Chinese spy balloon fiasco. While the Biden administration rightly faced scrutiny for its delayed response to the 2023 incursion, it turns out that similar balloons penetrated U.S. airspace multiple times under Trump’s first term—undetected until years later. That wasn’t just an intelligence failure; it was a neon-lit sign that Beijing had been testing America’s defenses for years. Trump, despite his tough-on-China rhetoric, failed to act decisively against these violations, a failure of strategic vision that China exploited.
But the CCP’s reach extends far beyond surveillance. It has embedded itself deep within America’s political and financial ecosystems. The case of Malaysian financier Jho Low, who funneled billions in stolen funds to gain access to high-level U.S. officials, illustrates how Beijing manipulates financial channels to curry favor with political elites. Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s lax policies allowed Chinese operatives to operate unchecked on U.S. soil. Secret police stations run by the CCP were discovered in New York City, tasked with intimidating dissidents and monitoring Chinese expatriates. Beijing-backed operatives attempted to bribe IRS officials to target critics of the regime, while a political operative in California was caught funneling CCP influence into local elections.
Economic and technological espionage remain a top priority for Beijing. CCP-backed hackers breached major American telecommunications firms, compromising sensitive data and gaining access to key infrastructure. Engineers at Google, Apple, and Tesla have been indicted for stealing proprietary technology and attempting to transfer it to China. Even America’s universities—long a soft target—continue to serve as unwitting conduits for Chinese intelligence, with so-called “researchers” funneling advanced AI and military applications back to the motherland.
The failures in Washington have been bipartisan, but the shift under the second Trump administration is impossible to ignore. His first term was filled with strong rhetoric but lacked decisive action against China’s covert operations within the U.S. Now, that has changed. This administration has aggressively countered Beijing’s espionage network, cracking down on CCP-backed influence operations, expanding restrictions on Chinese investments in critical sectors, and reinforcing counterintelligence efforts across federal agencies. The Biden years, by contrast, were marked by a reactive, sluggish approach that failed to implement real security solutions, leaving America dangerously exposed.
The February 2025 CCP Threat Snapshot makes one thing clear: China isn’t just stealing American innovation—it’s testing American resolve. The question now is whether Washington has finally learned the lesson or if the next administration will once again let Beijing dictate the terms.
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