Faced with the challenge of being 'choked' by the United States in hardware (chips), the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to maintain its competitiveness in the global AI race by stealing software, algorithms, and strategic intelligence. (People News/AI-generated image)
[People News] The United States has recently discovered that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to sustain its competitiveness in the global AI race by stealing software, algorithms, and strategic intelligence, particularly under the constraints imposed by the United States on hardware (chips). Chinese hackers have been impersonating American artificial intelligence (AI) experts in an effort to steal emails from AI experts in both the United States and Japan.
A report by Reuters on the 1st cites the latest findings from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, which indicates that since 2025, employees from think tanks, defense contractors, top universities, and law firms in the United States and Japan have become primary targets of a hacker group codenamed 'TA419' that is engaged in credential theft. Proofpoint assesses that the malware used by this group, the attacks on network infrastructure, and the targeted individuals are all closely aligned with the intelligence collection priorities of the Chinese Communist authorities, leading to the conclusion that these cyberattacks can be attributed to Chinese hackers.
Proofpoint has indicated that a recent wave of hackers has been impersonating AI or policy experts to write and send emails. These emails typically propose AI-themed collaborations or initiatives, luring targets into phishing websites designed to steal their passwords. Among those impersonated is Lynne Parker, who previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The hackers have targeted fewer than ten individuals working within a handful of organizations, suggesting that their interest lies in intelligence related to U.S. policy-making rather than merely stealing technology. The company did not disclose the names of these individuals, only stating that they include experts involved in AI regulation, export controls, and national AI strategy.
Proofpoint also noted that the recent tactics employed by TA419 are highly precise and deceptive. The hackers typically impersonate authoritative figures in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) or technology policy, sending emails under the pretext of 'collaborative research' or 'promoting AI initiatives' to trick targets into clicking malicious links and logging into fake websites, thereby stealing their passwords.
The impersonated target includes Lynne Parker, who previously held the position of Chief Deputy Director at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The report indicates that this group of hackers had very specific targets, focusing on fewer than 10 experts from a select few key agencies. Proofpoint's analysis suggests that, based on the victims' backgrounds, the hackers were 'clearly interested in core intelligence related to U.S. policy-making, rather than merely stealing technology.' While Proofpoint did not provide a specific list of victims, it confirmed that they were all involved in essential work concerning AI regulation, export controls, and national AI strategy.
Experts like Lynne Parker typically have contact lists and inboxes filled with the latest research drafts, unpublished algorithm papers, training dataset architectures, or experimental reports from leading academic institutions, think tanks, and technology giants.
Parker, who previously served as the Chief Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and was the former head of the U.S. National AI Coordination Office, noted that impersonating her identity not only deceives the trust of the academic community but also allows for further probing into the U.S. government's future regulatory policies on AI, export control directions, and national-level AI strategic deployments.
In her response, Parker remarked that it is reasonable to suspect the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party in this case, as the U.S. and China are competing in AI, 'attempting to obtain information from individuals in the AI policy field regarding policy planning; if this is indeed their objective, it is not surprising.'
The goal is to shorten the AI development cycle to achieve 'leapfrog development.'
According to comprehensive media reports, the development of AI is dependent on 'talent, computing power, algorithms, and data.' While China has rapidly advanced in application-level development, it remains heavily reliant on Western original research in foundational large language models (LLM), underlying architecture design, and AI safety. By appropriating the phased results or ideas from leading research teams in the United States and Japan, Chinese research institutions or military units can bypass the trial-and-error process and associated costs of R&D, allowing them to directly replicate or draw inspiration from the cutting-edge technologies of the United States.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long pursued a 'military-civil fusion' strategy, which facilitates the swift transfer of sensitive technologies acquired by civilian or academic sectors to the military. Modern warfare increasingly depends on AI applications in areas such as drone swarm control, intelligence analysis, battlefield simulation, autonomous weapon systems, and cyber offense and defense. Gaining access to research from top AI experts in the United States significantly enhances the CCP's military capabilities in military intelligence and asymmetric warfare.
Observers believe that the recent incident involving the impersonation of American AI experts highlights the fact that the US-China technology conflict has now fully expanded into the domain of 'cyber espionage and intelligence warfare.'
The Chinese embassy in the United States has not yet responded to Reuters' inquiry about this issue. Beijing has consistently denied involvement in cyber espionage activities.
In fact, after the reform and opening up, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) shifted away from the closed-door policies of the Cultural Revolution to attract foreign enterprises. This move was not only aimed at earning money from Westerners and rescuing the nearly collapsed Chinese economy post-Cultural Revolution, allowing Chinese citizens to earn income in foreign-funded companies, but the primary goal was to steal technology. The strategy of 'exchanging market for technology' (Market for Technology) is one of the CCP's core national strategies. Initially, this approach was presented as legitimate business cooperation and technology transfer; however, in practice, it gradually morphed into a mix of forced technology transfer, industrial espionage, reverse engineering, and even cyber theft. A review of the CCP's so-called modernization process reveals that it is fundamentally linked to technology theft.
Today, while the CCP claims to be the 'second-largest economy in the world,' it still faces significant 'dependency and vulnerability' in terms of foundational innovation and core technologies. Although China has shown remarkable capabilities in imitation and production in various application areas (such as electric vehicle assembly, e-commerce, and mobile payments), it remains heavily reliant on the West (particularly the United States, Japan, and Europe) for critical underlying core technologies, basic sciences, advanced materials, and high-end equipment. When fair access to these key technologies through market mechanisms is not possible, the CCP resorts to unconventional methods such as industrial espionage, cyber attacks, talent poaching, and 'forced technology transfer.'
A country's economic scale can be rapidly expanded through a significant population dividend, a large market, and extensive infrastructure; however, the hard power of technology cannot bypass the fundamental principles of 'basic science and intellectual property accumulation.'
The Chinese Communist Party remains unable to escape its dependence on 'technology theft,' which stems from a fundamental contradiction between its authoritarian regime and the free environment necessary for modern innovation. As the West has shut down avenues for technology imports and has intensified scrutiny of cyber and industrial espionage, the economic facade of Communist China, which has relied on 'theft and imitation,' is now confronting a severe crisis of technological deprivation. △
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