China poised to embed 'Communist Party spies' inside US firms — including Microsoft, critics warn
“They can tell a [Chinese intelligence] agent, ‘This is the person you need to talk to. If you want to coerce them, here’s who they are,’” a House aide briefed on the law
China’s government has positioned itself to embed “Communist Party spies” at Microsoft and other US companies that do business in the country — and further expose them to theft of trade secrets, employee poaching and even scary intimidation tactics, The Post has learned.
A new version of Beijing’s “company law” that took effect July 1 — a clampdown that has seen scant coverage in the Western press, according to experts — requires multinational firms with more than 300 workers in the country to appoint an “employee representative” to their China affiliate’s board of directors.
Sources tell The Post that the “representatives” are almost certain to be in regular contact with Chinese authorities — if not outright members of the Chinese Communist Party. That, in turn, would give Beijing a direct line into the sensitive internal workings of American firms.
The new rules, which can alternatively require that companies adopt a local supervisory board for workers, could also give the CCP frightening tools to exert control over US companies’ employees, according to US officials.
“They can tell a [Chinese intelligence] agent, ‘This is the person you need to talk to. If you want to coerce them, here’s who they are,’” a House aide briefed on the law told The Post. “’I have access to employee data. This is their wife. This is where they live. This is where the kid goes to school.’”