spying

Beijing has increasingly encouraged the public to be vigilant against perceived national security violations, including teaching children to be on the lookout for supposed threats to the country.

David Ballantyne Smith who was employed as a security guard at the embassy was extradited to Britain from Germany following his arrest by German police in August 2021.

The Internal Security Department says Dickson Yeo, among others, sent reports on issues related to Singapore to his foreign handlers from 2016 until his arrest in the US in 2019.

In one case, the former head of risk management wanted to know how an employee could afford to drive a brand-new BMW convertible, while in another he sought to know why an employee in Bordeaux had 'suddenly become a protester'.

Similar allegations emerged in 2013 when secrets leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged the NSA tapped the German chancellor’s phone.

Pyongyang's 6,000-strong cyberwarfare unit operates from several countries including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia, according to a US military report published in July 2020.

Some fear that if a diplomatic spat between their government and Beijing occurs while they are visiting China they could become a target.

Chinese consulates across the US are hotbeds of spying, the State Department alleges.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since 2016, when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations of spying and plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.