Ariane Knüsel

Historian: China, Switzerland, USA, diplomatic, intelligence & cultural history.
Teacher and Lecturer.

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

It's finally here - my book on how China operated European and global intelligence & propaganda networks from Switzerland, and how it carried out political and economic policies in Western Europe. Spies, Chinese restaurants, nuclear weapons, and Swiss watches - it's all in here!

[Richard Holmes 🕵🏻‍♂️ @Richard_AHolmes]

NEW: British universities selected for a government defence partnership have agreements with Chinese institutions linked directly to Beijing’s military.

Seven founding members of the Defence University Alliance - a scheme to link UK academia to defence - have partnerships with Chinese universities.

Four of these Chinese universities maintain direct links with Beijing’s military apparatus while one, partnered with Queen Mary University, is developing top secret underwater military projects for China’s military.

While allies have taken steps to prevent such agreements, the UK has increased them.

We now have more academic partnerships with Chinese entities who are authorised to conduct weapons research for Beijing than any other country in fields related to cybersecurity.

https://t.co/bvobjhD2FI

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

I spoke to Keystone-SDA about pitch competitions for Swiss start-ups in China. Market access may look attractive, but it also exposes firms to China’s authoritarian state capitalism and to technology transfer risks that are far from incidental.

https://t.co/9Yj4ZNTUzR

[ICIJ @ICIJorg]

Taiwan’s Investigation Bureau has charged two executives that allegedly helped China’s cyber spies target Taiwanese officials and scholars, violating the personal data protection act, among other crimes.

The spies impersonated ICIJ-affiliated reporters. https://t.co/AGfGPZpivk

[ICIJ @ICIJorg]

The U.S. and its key intelligence partners say that Chinese intelligence officers are posing as recruiters on LinkedIn and other sites to target foreigners who could have access to classified or privileged information.

Read the latest: https://t.co/6DaegRbNcv

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

Another espionage case in which China used European intermediaries for illegal access to European technology and research. This time it's in Germany where similar cases have been discovered in the past.
https://t.co/YRFWvoSeed

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

A Californian mayor has been charged with acting as an illegal agent for China. China's United Front influence networks are decentralized and civilian-based.
In my lecture on the situation in🇨🇭, I explained how individual actions look harmless. The pattern emerges only at scale.

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

in November 2025, the Guardian reported:
"WuXi AppTec was one of a handful of Chinese biotech companies named in the draft bill as having ties to 'a foreign adversary’s military, internal security forces, or intelligence agencies' in January 2024."
https://t.co/dZ5BBYHsrb

[Lara Spirit @lara_spirit]

EXCLUSIVE

The single biggest client of Lord Mandelson’s lobbying firm was a company linked to the Chinese military, leaked documents show

Global Counsel, in which Mandelson retained shares while he was the UK ambassador to Washington, received £2.24 million from WuXi AppTec, a Shanghai-listed life science company, last year

In 2024, it received £1.42 million, when Mandelson’s appointment was announced

The company topped a list of “biggest clients by revenue” shared among senior executives at GC

W/ @Gabriel_Pogrund

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

I spoke on SRF Eco Talk and SRF Tagesschau about how China can copy Western technology far faster than it could 40 years ago, and Swiss companies that ignore this are doing so to their own peril.
https://t.co/sDZ54GuN6t

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

While the article is concerning, China has long relied on digital tools to engage in co-optation, coercive mobilisation, and transnational repression against diaspora communities.

"UK university students 'paid' to support Chinese propaganda" https://t.co/D3fIulx8vf

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

@covert_intel @UniOfBuckingham If you're interested in Chinese intel operations in the West in the 1950s and 1960s, may I suggest chapter 4 of "China's European Headquarters" (Cambridge UP 2022) or my chapter in Onslow and Maguire, "Consuls and Consulates in the
Cold War" (Leiden 2024).

[ICIJ @ICIJorg]

A new EU report, which cites ICIJ's #ChinaTargets investigation, calls for more aggressive action to counter transnational repression, including visa bans, the expulsion of diplomats, and swifter mobilization of sanctions.

Read this story: https://t.co/Myk6IRBtSF

[Jakub Janda 楊雅嚳 @_JakubJanda]

New details emerge about the arrested Chinese spy in Prague, reported by @okundra :

- Mr. Jang I-ming worked for MSS, used fake cover as „journalist“

- he was under detailed surveillance by Czech counter-intelligence (BIS)

- when the Chinese spy was arrested in Prague, Czechia took preventative measures - withdrew selected Czech individuals from the Chinese territory, so they could not be kidnapped as hostages

- Czech counter-intelligence (BIS) told Czech lawmakers in the classified setting that the Chinese spy was collecting compromising materials focused on three Czech individuals linked to Taiwan agenda: Senate Speaker (Miloš Vystrčil), Chamber of Deputies Speaker (Markéta Pekarová Adamová) and leading Czech sinologist (Olga Lomová). The Chinese intelligence aim was to collect information usable to blackmail these pro-Taiwan leaders.

- the Chinese spy was coming to the Chinese Embassy Prague twice a month to hadn’t over his collected intelligence

- Czech prosecutors are confident about their gathered evidence, expect the court proceedings to start within 3-4 months

- Czech student arrested for drug charges in China in 2019 is still serving his 12-year sentence, China clearly hopes to swap him. Might happen, but after the Chinese spy in Prague gets sentenced

https://t.co/Xu3NezEb0m

[ICIJ @ICIJorg]

Italy's Interior Ministry has issued expulsion orders for eight Chinese nationals suspected of spying on political dissidents on behalf of the Chinese government. Three of the suspects were repatriated immediately.

Read the story: https://t.co/IYKrd3CXbW

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

Taiwan ist bewusst ausgeklammert, da ich dem Thema eine eigene Sitzung widme.

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

Wie hängen die aussenpolitischen Prinzipien der Volksrepublik China von 1949 mit Chinas aktuellem Verhalten im Iran-Krieg zusammen?

Eine Visualisierung aus meiner Vorlesung an der Universität Bern.

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

UK lawmaker's partner arrested over China spying allegations

https://t.co/XVjG3F5ktV

[Ariane Knüsel @ArianeKnuesel]

UK lawmaker's partner arrested over China spying allegations https://t.co/XVjG3F5ktV

[Neil Thomas 牛犇 @neilthomas123]

China prepares landmark law curtailing minority language rights - @FT

One of many developments at the Two Sessions in Beijing that will get overshadowed by the Middle East

Story quotes a report I co-authored, saying the law "will expand the legal basis for restricting religious, cultural and political activities among minority groups"

From the story by @leahyjoseph :

"China is set to enact a landmark law requiring ethnic minorities to use Mandarin Chinese as their main language of instruction, overturning decades-old policies that date back to the era of Mao Zedong.

The new law, which analysts expect to be passed at the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament this week, is aimed at 'forging a sense of community in the Chinese nation', according to a draft of the legislation.

It also threatens legal action against anyone, inside or outside China, who undermines 'national unity' or provokes 'separatism'.

The sweeping law marks the latest effort in a 'Sinicisation' campaign under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which critics say aims to force the country’s dozens of ethnic minorities to assimilate into Han-dominated society in the name of promoting inter-ethnic harmony.

China’s Han majority accounts for about 90 per cent of its population of 1.4bn, but the country recognises 56 official minorities, a dozen languages — some with their own written scripts — and hundreds of dialects.

Under the new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, while minority languages may still be taught as a second language, groups such as Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians will no longer be entitled to use their native tongues for core subjects in schools and universities."

[Eliot Chen @eliotcxchen]

NEW: You may remember that on the same day last year Pres. Trump announced H200s could be sold to China, the DOJ announced it had broken up a chip smuggling ring.

I dug into the court docs that detail how the U.S. smugglers did it, and have identified the🇨🇳buyer: