Belgian Federal Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Els Van Hoof revealed to the media on Thursday that Chinese spies had infiltrated her laptop as early as 2021.
As this case came to light, increasing concerns over Chinese espionage activities in Europe have been raised.
German prosecutors announced a few days ago the arrest of three German citizens suspected of working for the Chinese state security department, providing technology usable for military purposes to China. Beijing has denied all such allegations.
Van Hoof, a representative of the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) party, serves as the chair of the Federal Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee. During an interview with the Flemish broadcaster VRT, she stated that last month she discovered the cyber attack through a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), three years after the incident occurred.
The FBI revealed in a lawsuit against seven Chinese individuals that Chinese spies infiltrated Van Hoof’s laptop through emails. These individuals are accused not only of monitoring Americans but also members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a transnational parliamentary alliance that focuses on China policy.
IPAC, an international association of lawmakers dedicated to Chinese human rights issues, has become a thorn in the side of the Chinese regime. Van Hoof mentioned that all 400 IPAC members have become targets of Chinese cyber attacks, including herself and her vice chair Samuel Cogolati. They all opened the hackers’ emails in 2021.
“I also opened these emails, meaning all my actions are under digital tracking,” Van Hoof said. “It’s a very uncomfortable feeling.”
The impact of the Chinese cyber attacks is still unclear. The Belgian newspaper “Het Nieuwsblad” cited the FBI report stating that the movements of the affected laptops have been tracked since 2021.
Van Hoof told VRT that the purpose of these Chinese actions is clearly to intimidate and silence individuals.
She mentioned that she has faced alleged intimidation since taking her current position, including threats from the industry and the Chinese embassy, as well as a commission hearing on the Uyghur minority being canceled due to system shutdown.
As early as 2021, suspicions arose about Van Hoof’s laptop. She revealed that the Belgian national security agency inspected her laptop in September 2021 but found nothing suspicious.
Earlier this week, the assistant of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) European Parliament member Maximilian Krah, Jian G., was arrested on suspicion of engaging in “particularly serious” espionage activities for China in Germany.
Krah was the lead candidate for the AfD in the European Parliament elections in June.
Jian G. is accused by Germany of allegedly passing decision-making information of the European Parliament to China and assisting in monitoring anti-communist individuals in Germany. This news has sparked significant attention.