A spy balloon and China’s presence in Cuba have put the spotlight on Beijing’s surveillance network around the globe this year, further fueling tensions with the U.S. But what do we know about China’s international intelligence operations? What are Beijing’s goals, and how is it using secret agents alongside satellites, TikTok and other hi-tech tools to monitor what happens in other countries?

To answer these questions, CSDS-Asia Matters’ Paolo Bosonin spoke with former Pentagon official Kari Bingen – director of the aerospace security project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies – alongside Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore, and Liza Lin, Wall Street Journal reporter and co-author of the book, “Surveillance State: China’s quest to build a new era of social control”.