Chinese recruiters are aggressive when their target is in China. That is where attempts take place. “When the target makes a mistake, they are quickly approached. If you don’t make a mistake, you are invited back,” an expert source said.
Rules in place for Estonian top politicians and officials visiting China require them to have two phones one of which has no data and is only used to conduct private business. Communication can only follow secure channels, such as the Signal or FaceTime apps.
Members of delegations are strongly recommended not to take with them personal phones or computers that hold sensitive data. When President Kersti Kaljulaid visited China a year ago, a member of the delegation ignored the warning. Their computer crashed so thoroughly in Beijing that it was impossible to restore. No one knows why it happened.
In March of 2019, when the Huawei drama was unfolding between USA and China, PM of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis met with the US ambassador. Even though the topics were not made public, Reuters reported that the ambassador urged Lithuania to block Huawei, saying that “the company’s 5G devices could endanger allied troops.” The PM met with the Chinese ambassador a week later. While Skvernelis admitted the ambassador broached to topic of Huawei, he believes the matter should be discussed on the EU level.
The meeting took place right after Lithuanian security services published their first warning about Chinese intelligence. After the report was published, the Chinese embassy in Vilnius expressed its “shock and surprise” and said that China was not a threat for Lithuania. “The report on the so-called threat of Chinese intelligence is completely unprofessional, unobjective and irresponsible,” the embassy’s statement read.