AIVD continues to warn about knowledge theft

China is attempting to steal scientific and technological knowledge in the Netherlands, warns intelligence service AIVD in its new annual report. That threat is ‘both broadened and deepened’.

The world has not become any safer, according to the annual report published on Thursday by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). In it the service outlines the threats to the Netherlands.

It’s not only about the danger of attacks by extremists or sabotage by hostile states. The service has also been warning for years about the threat to knowledge security.

“In the Netherlands, companies, research institutions and the government possess unique knowledge and technology that cannot be obtained at that level anywhere else in the world”, writes the AIVD. Other countries are also interested in this.

The annual report cites quantum technology and semiconductors as examples, which can greatly increase computing power. Universities also hold such sensitive knowledge.

China

The service points particularly to attempts by China to acquire such knowledge and technology. The country is said to attract Western researchers to bring knowledge back. In addition, China deliberately sends students and researchers to the West. They do not necessarily come here as spies, but they can be pressured to share technological knowledge they’ve acquired, the AIVD says.

The service doesn’t give details, but over the past year several attempts to acquire knowledge here are said to have been thwarted.

Other countries are also mentioned as knowledge thieves in the annual report, such as North Korea and Russia. Russian spies are said to use, among other things, ‘various covers, such as scientist or journalist’.

Knowledge security

The cabinet has been working since 2022 on a bill designed to increase knowledge security in higher education. Master’s students and researchers will have to be screened if they want to work in sensitive fields.

Universities have criticised the proposed law. They fear that the Netherlands will seal itself off behind the dikes and suffocate the international collaboration from which science benefits so much. Moreover, costs could rise sharply, while the screening would mainly provide ‘false security’.

However, the screening bill has not yet been submitted. It will not be possible this year either, Education minister Rianne Letschert told the House of Representatives earlier this month.