How Chinese Spies Are Operating In America

Summary

Podcast Summary: Morning Wire

Episode: How Chinese Spies Are Operating In America
Date: May 17, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Guest: Peter Schweitzer, Investigative Journalist & Author

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Overview of the Episode

This episode explores the increasing prevalence and sophistication of Chinese espionage efforts within the United States, focusing not only on the high-profile cases of cyber-attacks and military secrets but also on the often-overlooked operations at local and state levels. Investigative journalist Peter Schweitzer joins the show to demystify China’s broader strategy, examine recent real-world cases, and illuminate the multifaceted tactics Beijing uses to influence, compromise, and undermine American society and governance, all without firing a shot.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Chinese Espionage at the Local Level

[04:14 – 06:23]

• Recent case: Arcadia, CA Mayor Eileen Wang resigned and pled guilty to acting as an unregistered agent for China.
• Peter Schweitzer: These local incidents, when viewed cumulatively, represent a strategic pattern rather than isolated events.

  "China does a lot at the state and local level because they can advance their interests there very aggressively." [04:25]

• Comparison to past adversaries: China is far more sophisticated than the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany in these operations.
• Motivations: China uses both ethnic bonds and financial inducements to recruit assets.

2. Goals Behind Low-Level Political Influence

[06:23 – 07:42]

• Mayors can sway zoning policies, land purchases, and real estate acquisitions valuable to China.
• Focus is on "elite capture": targeting up-and-coming local politicians who may later hold higher offices.
• Schweitzer:

  "They want to develop a relationship early... What they're looking for is elite capture." [06:56] "They’re willing to accept what they call ‘big help with a little bad mouth’—they know these people may have to criticize China from time to time, but they expect them to help advance their interests." [07:20]

3. Tactics During High-Level Summits

[07:42 – 09:02]

• At high-profile events like the Beijing summit, China uses sophisticated surveillance, attempts to compromise U.S. officials, and seeks intelligence on negotiations.
• Schweitzer:

  "China is a surveillance state, and they know information is power… They’re going to try to monitor communications... compromise [U.S. officials] politically." [08:03]

4. Untraditional Espionage: Intimidation and Cultural Influence

[09:02 – 11:23]

• Operations extend beyond classic spying to include:
  • Intimidation of Chinese dissidents on U.S. soil
  • Propaganda, university influence campaigns
  • Economic espionage targeting technology and research
• China uses its large student population (600,000+ in the U.S.) as a resource—sometimes with coercion via pressure on families back home.
• Schweitzer:

  "Every student is a potential recruit... they can do bad things to your family if you don’t cooperate." [10:00]

  • Political influence-seeking targets not just politicians but powerful families and individuals in business and finance.

5. The Concept of "Unrestricted Warfare"

[11:23 – 13:38]

• China practices a doctrine called “unrestricted warfare,” weaponizing non-military means to weaken adversaries.
• Examples:
  • Fentanyl trafficking: Precursor chemicals come from China, creating a public health crisis in the U.S.
  • Biological and economic sabotage, such as smuggling toxic fungi to damage crops
• Schweitzer:

  "They believe in something that is sometimes called unrestricted warfare… war that does not involve a kinetic shooting war." [11:48] "The Chinese press is filled with accounts of how fentanyl is an opportunity to sort of switch the opium wars of the 19th century to cause havoc in the United States socially." [12:18]

  • Laundering of drug profits through Chinese banks is a coordinated part of strategy.

6. U.S. Political Response and Reluctance

[13:38 – 15:03]

• Despite high-profile incidents (e.g., 2023 spy balloon), the U.S. government often hesitates to escalate tensions publicly.
• Schweitzer:

  "The challenge that any president faces... is what are your priorities? What is most important to you?... We are going to expel spies, we are going to arrest people... but we’re not going to put the overall relationship at risk because... we’re trying to advance these other areas of interest to us." [14:13]

• Balancing crackdown on espionage with broader diplomatic, economic, and security concerns remains politically complex.

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Noteworthy Quotes and Moments

• On China's sophistication:
  "This is by far the most sophisticated challenge that we've ever faced from a foreign adversary."
  — Peter Schweitzer [04:30]

• On recruiting students:
  "If you're a Chinese student, even if you don't want to spy for your country... they can pressure your family... every student is a potential recruit."
  — Peter Schweitzer [10:00]

• On "unrestricted warfare":
  "What this means is war that does not involve a kinetic shooting war... you're engaging in non-lethal military operations designed to weaken your enemy."
  — Peter Schweitzer [11:48]

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Key Segment Timestamps

• [03:14] Guest introduction: Peter Schweitzer, investigative journalist on China’s influence
• [04:14] Insight into local-level Chinese espionage and its significance
• [06:34] "Elite capture": Why China targets local officials
• [08:02] Surveillance and attempts to compromise U.S. officials at summits
• [09:28] China's broader goals: tech theft, elite capture, and diaspora intimidation
• [11:43] The "unrestricted warfare" strategy—fentanyl, cyber attacks, biological threats
• [13:55] U.S. hesitation and diplomatic balancing on counter-espionage

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Conclusion

This episode offers a comprehensive look at the many layers of Chinese espionage and influence in the U.S.—from the overt (cyberattacks, intellectual property theft) to the covert (local officials, intimidation, economic subterfuge). Peter Schweitzer illustrates that China’s strategy extends beyond classic spycraft, integrating economic warfare, influence campaigns, and social manipulation as part of a deliberate plan to weaken America from within. The U.S. response remains constrained by geopolitical considerations, leaving a complex and evolving landscape for countering this growing threat.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

When Americans think about Chinese espionage, they often picture spy balloons, cyber attacks or stolen military secrets.

[C]

But some of the most concerning cases are happening much closer to home. Local officials accused of acting on Beijing's behalf, covert police stations allegedly operating on US Soil, dissidents being monitored, and investigations involving everything from fentanyl to biological materials.

[B]

Investigative author Peter Schweitzer says these are not isolated incidents. Instead, they're part of a much broader strategy, one aimed at weakening America without firing a shot.

[C]

He joins us to explain how China's operations inside the US Actually work and why the threat may look less like a spy novel and more like everyday American life.

[B]

I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. This is a weekend edition of MORNING wire.

[D]

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[C]

Joining us now is Peter Schweitzer, an investigative journalist and best selling author whose work is focused on political corruption and China's growing influence inside the United States. He's the author of Red Handed and Blood Money. Peter, great to have you on.

[E]

Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.

[B]

So, Peter, we had a bunch of questions for you on China and spying allegations, agents here in the U.S. including elected officials in the U.S. in fact, I wanted to start there. We had a recent case out of Southern California, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang, she's now resigned, pled guilty to acting as an unregistered agent for China. At the same time, federal authorities are investigating and convicting all kinds of individuals from China, one operating secret police stations inside the US Others smuggling toxic fungus to America to ruin crops. So how significant are these cases and are they isolated incidents or part of something larger?

[E]

Well, if you look at each individual case, you might not think it amounts to much. You know, she's the mayor of this town in California. But it's a cumulative effect that I think presents the challenge. And it also highlights the fact that while we want to focus a lot of times on espionage or influence operations at the national level, China does a lot at the state and local level because they can advance their interests there very aggressively. This is by far the most sophisticated challenge that we've ever faced from a foreign adversary. The Soviet Union was not very good at this, certainly Nazi Germany either. China is very good at it. They use a combination of inducements. They appeal to those that might have an ethnic bond. They're Chinese American, for example, but they also use money. And unlike the Soviet Union. They have a lot of money to toss around and they're qu quite effective in recruiting spies and causing problems inside the United States.

[B]

Is there a sense that there is coordination in terms of the larger goals? Like this Eileen Wang, is she just generally trying to defend the Chinese Communist Party in front of the American public? What is the goal there and does it connect to some of these other apparent operatives?

[E]

Yeah, just like during the Cold War, some people would say they were motivated to help the Soviet Union out of a naive sense of peace. You could say that about some of these individuals. Some of these individuals say they just want to promote greater cultural understanding between China and the United States. The motivation is to make sure that these two countries are friendly. That's certainly possible. It's hard to put look inside somebody's mind and know exactly what their motivation is. But the fact of the matter is, is that they know they're dealing with a foreign adversarial power. They're either dealing with people that are part of the Chinese government apparatus or part of what's called the United Front. These are associated groups with the Chinese government. And there are literally no excus whatever they think their motivations are. If you are taking money or doing the bidding of a foreign nation like China, you are required to Register with the U.S. department of justice so they can assess what you're doing, make sure it's not anything illegal. And the mayor in this case failed to do that and is now suffering the legal consequences.

[C]

What is China's interest in getting some of these low level political appointments? Do we have any sense of what their goal would be with something like a mayorship?

[E]

Well, mayors can have a lot of influence in terms of issues related to zoning. China, of course, is trying to acquire a real estate in the United States that is being used for various purposes. But ultimately the goal is political influence. And they will try to identify people that are active on the local level that may get appointed to a state position or they may actually run for federal office. They want to develop a relationship early. That's certainly what happened in the case of Eric Swalwell, who was a city commissioner in Northern California when the relationship with Fang Fang began. What they're looking for is elite capture. That's the desire to sort of capture members of the American political elite. They recognize that they're not going to be robots to China. They're willing to accept what they call big help with a little bad mouth. They know that these people may have to criticize China from time to time, but they Expect them to help them advance their interests, which means access to American capital markets, access to our overall consumer market, to advance their commercial and political interests in the United States. That's ultimately what they're looking for from these political actors.

[B]

Now, we just saw with this Beijing summit, the a lot of security issues from the Trump team using burner phones, a lot of surveillance reported, including from Fox News. Right. What kind of spying would you expect from the Chinese during events like this, particularly involving the U.S. president?

[E]

Yeah, I mean, China is a surveillance state, and they know that information is power. That's how they govern. They use that information to exploit, exploit and monitor their political opponents. They're going to try to do the same thing with the United States. That means that they're going to try to monitor communications. They're going to try to, you know, encourage members of the diplomatic team or of the advanced team to maybe go drinking in bars. Maybe they're going to compromise them politically in some way. This is vitally important to maintain security in this kind of situation, because sometimes they're negotiating very complex deals, and to know what the US Team is discussing or what they're willing to give away could provide a huge advantage. So the United States does some of this itself. Obviously, we have spy agencies like the CIA and the nsa, but China being a surveillance state, they have a lot more latitude and a lot more resources to bring to the table in terms of trying to ferret out secrets from opposing countries.

[C]

Now, one thing that's stood out in the patterns is that some of this buying doesn't look like traditional espionage. So we have some intimidation of dissidents when it comes to, like, Chinese diaspora. There are, of course, the propaganda campaigns, and then also there's influence when it comes to universities and local leaders. What are China's primary goals in the United States when you are taking a broader view of all of those efforts?

[E]

Yeah, they really fall into a couple of baskets. One is they want to advance their technological and economic capabilities. So they're interested in obtaining a lot of intellectual property, stealing it from American companies, stealing it from labor territories. And you have a lot of students. 600,000 Chinese students are studying at American universities. They're generally not studying comparative literature or gender studies. They're studying hard sciences. They're working in laboratories. And if you're a Chinese student, even if you don't want to spy for your country, even if you're not into the Chinese Communist Party, the problem is, is they can pressure your family. You have family back in China. They can do Bad things to your family if you don't cooperate. So every student is a potential recruit. So they want technological secrets, those economic secrets to help China win the AI war, to advance technologically more than the United States. But then you have the political side, which is the decision making side. This notion that I mentioned earlier, elite capture, this is a Chinese strategy which is to get decision makers, they can be in politics, they can be on Wall street to have a sympathetic view towards China. It doesn't mean that they like the Chinese Communist Party, but it means they're incentivized to have good relationships. So they'll seek commercial relationships with members of prominent political families to help make them rich in China. That will make them feel beholden to Beijing, et cetera. And here they're looking for, of course, political information, but ultimately political influence. They are absolutely paranoid by China hawks. They're calling for a hard line against China. China knows that that would compromise a lot of their operations and make their climb to the top much more difficult. So they devote a lot of resources to trying to recru exploit political assets that can advance China's interests politically by muting criticism of their country.

[B]

We've also seen concerns about cyber attacks, intellectual property theft. You just mentioned TikTok fentanyl trafficking cases, even involving biological materials being smuggled into the country. Is it fair to say that this actually is part of a coordinated effort from the Chinese?

[E]

Yeah. Now this is a really important point, John. We in the west tend to think of war and peace as separate categories. If you're not fighting a war, you are at peace. If you are fighting a war, you are at war. China has a different view. It's not black and white. They believe in something that is sometimes called unrestricted warfare, or at other times it's called disintegration warfare. And what this means is war that does not involve a kinetic shooting war. You're not firing missiles at each other, you're not doing what happened in Iran, but you're engaging in non lethal military operations designed to weaken your enemy. So take fentanyl for example. The Chinese press is filled with accounts of how fentanyl is an opportunity to sort of switch the opium wars of the 19th century to cause havoc in the United States socially. And when you look at the fentanyl crisis in America, it's really fueled more by China than it is by the Mexican drug cartels. The Chinese provide the precursor chemicals. There are 2,000 Chinese nationals that help the cartels in Mexico create this deadly cocktail. The money proceeds from these fentanyl drug sales are laundered through Chinese state owned banks. That would be an example of unrestricted warfare. And there was actually a book written in 1999 by two military officials that's highly influential today that actually mentions that as a form of warfare. Not fentanyl specifically, but drug warfare, certainly biological warfare, potentially something like Covid or something involving, you know, things that can affect our crops in the United States are other examples of this kind of warfare that's below a kinetic shooting war, but is nonetheless designed to weaken and undermine the United States and give China a strategic advantage. And it's a brilliant strategy. And, and to a lot extent, you could argue it's working.

[C]

Now, looking back at the 2023 incident where we had the Chinese spy balloon, I think a lot of people were a little bit alarmed at how nonchalant we were about that going on. So why do you think there's so much hesitation to really act when we see these threats? And do you think that's changing under the Trump administration?

[E]

Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, as we saw in the summit, there are a whole cluster of issues that are on the table. You have the situation in Iran. You have trade issues, you have intellectual property issues. You have the export of American products like beef to China, which have been banned. You have questions about Chinese investment in the United States. You have questions about electric vehicles and Chinese cars being sold in the United States. So there's a huge collection of issues. The challenge that any president faces, certainly including this one, is what are your priorities? What is most important to you? So, you know the Chinese are going to spy, you know they're going to conduct influence operations. Operations. Is it getting out of control to the extent that you need to raise it as an issue and risk coming up with a good deal for the United States in another one of these areas. And I think the Trump administration calculation has been so far that we are going to expel spies, we are going to arrest people, as happened with this mayor in California. But we're not going to put the overall relationship at risk because we're trying to advance these other areas of interest to us, whether it's trade, agriculture or fentanyl.

[B]

Certainly the politics are really complicated on sort of a global scale. But meanwhile, here at home, the threat so real, as you've outlined in such detail here. Peter, thank you so much for joining us.

[E]

Glad to be with you.

[B]

That was Peter Schweitzer and this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

[F]

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