Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer

This is the first book of its kind to employ hundreds of Chinese sources to explain the history and current state of Chinese Communist intelligence operations. It profiles the leaders, top spies, and important operations in the history of China's espionage organs, and links to an extensive online glossary of Chinese language intelligence and security terms. Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil present an unprecedented look into the murky world of Chinese espionage both past and present, enabling a better understanding of how pervasive and important its influence is, both in China and abroad.

About the Author :
Peter Mattis is a research fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and a contributing editor at War on the Rocks. He previously was a fellow at The Jamestown Foundation and edited its biweekly China Brief from 2011 to 2013. He also worked as a counterintelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Matthew Brazil, PhD, is a non-resident Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation and an account manager at an American technology company in California. He worked in Asia for over 20 years as a U.S. Army officer, American diplomat, and corporate security manager.

Review :
“Mr. Mattis and Mr. Brazil deliver a detailed history and current assessment of Chinese espionage activities. Their encyclopedic review of key Chinese intelligence officers and their spying operations dating back to the 1949 Communist takeover highlights how the United States and other major trading partners are under siege from a pernicious, multifaceted attack on government, commercial and academic targets.” —The Washington Times “A sophisticated analysis of China’s competent and effective intelligence capabilities within diplomatic, military, economic and technological contexts.” —East West Notes “Chinese Communist Espionage is recommended reading for those interested in the craft of intelligence, and perhaps even more so for American intelligence mavens and policymakers, not to mention the ordinary citizen.” —StrategyPage “Chinese Communist Espionage is required reading for anyone wanting a thorough, documented introduction into the world of communist Chinese espionage and tradecraft. And how it impacts America and the world.” —American Defense News “Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer by Peter Mattis and Dr. Matthew Brazil has coincided with fast-breaking stories about Chinese espionage and influence operations, both in mainland China and beyond.” —NTD “Mr Mattis and Mr Brazil provide a useful field guide to Chinese intelligence services.” —The Economist "Messrs. Mattis and Brazil’s book is the most comprehensive attempt yet to outline the range of China’s spying and the complicated web of agencies that carry it out. The scale of China’s relentless espionage activities is far more understandable thanks to their work. Readers may be surprised, for example, to find out that some of the earliest American Cold War spies gave their loyalty to Beijing, not Moscow, prompting one to wonder: Does China today have its own Kim Philby? The ignominious list of Americans, both of Chinese descent and otherwise, who have sold national or corporate secrets to China, or attempted to do so, is enough to raise questions about how much of China’s military and economic rise could have been achieved without espionage.” —The Wall Street Journal “Chinese Communist Espionage is an excellent resource for scholars, practitioners of intelligence and foreign policy, and businesspersons interested in China and its intelligence services. The book not only is valuable for China watches but also is relevant to a variety of subjects…. The sheer amount of information gathered from both Chinese and English sources, as well as from the anonymous testimonies of knowledgeable insiders, combined with a rigorous and thoughtful analysis of the facts by authors with deep knowledge of the subject, make the book exceptionally valuable.” —Comparative Strategy “The first book of its kind to employ hundreds of Chinese sources to explain the history and current state of Chinese Communist intelligence operations, Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer profiles the leaders, top spies and important operations, and links to an extensive online glossary of Chinese-language intelligence and security terms.” —The Foreign Service Journal “Chinese Communist Espionage … serves as an introduction to [Chinese intelligence operations]. The authors include notes and a bibliography reflecting their extensive research. This book is a must-read for government and private-sector security stakeholders at policy and practitioner levels.” —Military Review “The authors have given the reader two books in one: the history and organization of the PRC’s intelligence operations, and the biographies of notable intelligence operatives.” —Japan Forward “A well-laid-out account of how Chinese intelligence works, along with its internal contradictions and conflicts.” —Foreign Policy "Chinese Communist Espionage is a well-researched reference guide that should be in the library of every student of espionage and every intelligence and security specialist.” —The Washington Times “Chinese Communist Espionage will be a standard work for historians, China experts and analysts in intelligence and security services.” —Militaire Spectator “The authors present an alphabetical who’s who of Chinese intelligence leaders and top spies, as well as detailing important operations.” —Survival: Global Politics and Strategy “Chinese Communist Espionage is informative and functional for the US intelligence professional.” —Air and Space Power Journal “Mr. Mattis and Mr. Brazil have provided a crucial insight into the intelligence activities of the Chinese Communist state.” —Asian Affairs “Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer is precisely what the subtitle says it is, a primer, and a very useful one…. Serious students of Chinese espionage and anyone interested in doing additional research—which the authors encourage—will find the footnotes and the bibliography extremely helpful.” —The Cipher Brief “This book is full of excellent and useful detail.” —Kerry Brown Reviews “This book will be of interest to the security specialist.... It will also be useful to those who are engaged in research on and teaching of comparative intelligence systems.” —Security Management “Those wanting to amplify their grasp of Chinese intelligence organizations should read ... Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer.” —The Australian “American citizens who care about their health as well as U.S. national security need to know about China's domestic and international security and intelligence organizations, and the global web of companies and organizations they control and manipulate. A superb source for this information is Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer by Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil.” —Townhall.com "This timely work joins a select body of literature that examines China's intelligence operations. This book is a very strong contribution to the field of study and unlike sensationalized or journalistic accounts, it presents an accurate and descriptive view of China's Espionage activities." —Nicholas Eftimiades, Assistant teaching Professor, Penn State University, and author Chinese Intelligence Operations “Chinese espionage, both within and beyond cyberspace, lies at the heart of tensions between the United States and China. In Chinese Communist Espionage the authors make a painstaking investigation of China’s espionage choices and show how they affected the Party’s continued survival. Detailed, rich, surprising in parts, and altogether essential." —Martin Libicki, author of Cyberspace in Peace and War "As the US and China appear head towards an increasingly adversarial relationship that is divided not just by trade disputes, but by territorial conflicts in the South and East China Sea, Taiwan, as well as completely opposite political systems and values, the question of the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence gathering operations and influence seeking abroad gains new importance. In this painstakingly researched and very detailed effort to pierce the veil of Chinese opacity, Brazil and Mattis have helped limn both the history and current dimensions of the still shadowy world of Chinese intelligence and counter intelligence operations." —Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations, former Dean and Professor at the University of California, Berkeley "This is an important and timely book. Brazil and Mattis place China's sustained campaign of espionage in context. Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer is a must read for all who play a role in protecting free and open societies from this pernicious threat to security and prosperity." —H.R. McMaster, author, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam "In this painstakingly researched and very detailed effort to pierce the veil of Chinese opacity, Brazil and Mattis have helped limn both the history and current dimensions of the still shadowy world of Chinese intelligence and counter-intelligence operations." —Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society “Chinese Communist Espionage performs several vital functions. It shows us how the Communist Party's earliest espionage operations inform the present; it describes the true scale and scope of Chinese espionage; and it alerts us to the nature of the world we now inhabit. For clarity and authority, this book is unmatched. We now have a standard text on China's intelligence history and machinery, and this is it." —Adam Brookes, author of the Night Heron trilogy