Belgian Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Says She Was Hacked by CCP Spies

Els Van Hoof, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Belgian Federal Parliament, revealed to the media on April 25 that her laptop had been hacked by Chinese communist spies as early as 2021.

This incident is the most recent example of the Chinese regime’s espionage activities in Europe.

Ms. Van Hoof, a member of the Flemish Christian Democrats, informed Belgian public broadcaster VRT that she became aware of the cyberattack through an FBI report last month, three years after it took place.

The FBI report was part of a lawsuit against 7 Chinese nationals accused of spying on U.S. citizens and members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). It stated that Chinese cyber spies gained access to Ms. Van Hoof’s laptop through an email.

IPAC is an international association of parliamentarians focusing on human rights issues in China, making it a prime target for the Chinese regime.

Ms. Van Hoof mentioned that 400 IPAC members, including Samuel Cogolati, the vice-chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, were hacked when they opened the email in 2021. The full extent of the cyber attack’s impact is still unknown. According to the FBI report, Belgian security agencies have been monitoring the affected laptops since 2021.

Regarding the purpose of the Chinese regime’s cyber attack, Ms. Van Hoof stated to VRT, “The intention, of course, is to intimidate and silence us.”

Chung Chih-tung, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, shared with The Epoch Times on April 27 about the cyber attack: “In fact, it’s not just targeting Belgian politicians. The collection of intelligence on some [western] politicians will be used to intimidate and threaten them to achieve their [the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP)] political goals. That shows the Chinese communist regime’s aggressiveness stemmed from its struggle ideology.”

Mr. Chung highlighted that the CCP has been conducting espionage on the West for some time, “but before, Western countries were not as vigilant as they are now. While the tension between China and Western countries has been rising, the CCP has increased its espionage activities on them.”

CCP’s Increasing Espionage on Other Countries

Earlier this year, the Dutch government also accused the CCP of cyber espionage. The Dutch prime minister raised the issue during his meeting with CCP leader Xi Jinping in late March.

MIVD, the military intelligence service of the Netherlands, stated in February that Chinese regime-backed cyber spies hacked networks used by the Dutch Ministry of Defense.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren remarked at the time: “For the first time, the MIVD has chosen to make public a technical report on the working methods of Chinese hackers. It is important to attribute such espionage activities by China. In this way, we increase international resilience against this type of cyber espionage.”

MIVD and AIVD [the country’s general intelligence and security service] emphasized in a report that the incident “does not stand on its own, but is part of a wider trend of Chinese political espionage against the Netherlands and its allies.”

Beijing has denied all such accusations.

Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, informed The Epoch Times on April 27 that Taiwan is also a target of the CCP’s cyber attacks: “It has also been found out in Taiwan that there are WiFi receivers inside stage lights. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the CCP are using various methods to conduct espionage through electronic devices. Now Western countries begin to expand their prevention efforts [against the CCP’s cyber espionage].”

Mr. Chung cautioned that as the West recognizes the threats from the CCP, the Chinese regime has diversified its spying methods, including through the internet, electronic device exports, education, cultural exchange, and research, among others.

“The CCP espionage activities are comprehensive. In fact, every department of the CCP has the task of collecting intelligence on other countries through different ways, depending on the types of their work.”

Earlier this week, an aide to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany, was arrested in Germany. The man, who holds German citizenship but is from China, was charged with espionage for China.

Luo Ya contributed to this report.