Leak of CCP members shocks the west

 Huge Data Leak of 2 Million CCP Members Reveals ‘Golden Age’ of Chinese EspionageThe world is on the “cusp of the golden age” of Chinese espionage in the wake of revelations that around two million Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are embedded in governments and companies worldwide.

The revelations have spurred one Australian senator to warn that a pledge of loyalty to the CCP conflicts with democratic values, and nations need to take greater steps to safeguard their interests.

Details surrounding the massive database emerged on Sunday revealing a register with information on 1.95 million CCP members including their names, party positions, birthdays, national ID numbers and ethnicity.

It also revealed that 79,000 CCP branches were established worldwide, with some embedded in global corporations, according to Sky News Australia.

Many individuals in the database are employed in U.S., European and Australian companies involved in sensitive industries such as defence, pharmaceuticals (particularly the development of COVID-19 vaccines), and financial services. Some are employed in diplomatic posts and universities.

Around 600 CCP members, some senior executives, work in banking giants HSBC and Standard Chartered.

While aerospace firms Airbus, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce have employed hundreds of CCP members. Boeing had 287 CCP members working for it in 2016 and is also a major defence contractor to the United States and Australian Defence Departments.

U.S. information technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) also had CCP members in its employ. In Australia, HP was recently awarded  a $48 million contract to build a “supercomputer” for leading research institute the CSIRO.

Two major pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, have employed 69 and 54 CCP members, respectively.

Matt Warren, professor of cybersecurity at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology said the revelations were no surprise and instead, reinforced the view that Beijing had conducted a global infiltration campaign.

“What is of interest is that members of the CCP are working for defence and IT-related companies globally. One can only guess the projects they were working on and the information that has been sent back to China. This is a major security risk,” he told The Epoch Times.