Chinese data firm Zhenhua Data 'spied' on 10,000 eminent Indians; here are the details

As the Parliament discusses reports of alleged spying by Shenzhen-based technology firm Zhenhua Data, the Centre is currently looking into reports explaining the major breach in data privacy of 10,000 eminent Indian citizens - including PM Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, fifteen former Army chiefs, and several state Chief Ministers. An Indian express report highlighted how Zhenhua Data - which has links to the Chinese Communist Party is spying on entities from United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, and the United Arab Emirates. This development comes amid the ongoing 5-month long faceoff between India and China in Ladakh's LAC.

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Who is Zhenhua 'spying' on?

As per the report, Zhenhua which claims it works with Chinese intelligence, military, and security agencies allegedly 'spied' on 10,000 Indian entities and stored their data in an Overseas Key Information Database (OKIDB). The list of entities who Zhenhua spied on include - Prime Minister Modi,  President Kovind, former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Smriti Irani, 23 former and current Chief Secretaries, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, and several diplomats. Apart from the Centre's politicians, Zhenhua allegedly spied on state-level politicians like Raman Singh, Ashok Chavan, Siddaramaiah, Uddhav Thackeray etc. Several eminent journalists, sportspersons, actors, start-up entrepreneurs, and top entrepreneurs and  Ratan Tata and Gautam Adani were allegedly being spied upon.

The report also points out that amid the ongoing spat in Ladakh, Zhenhua has allegedly spied on 30 prominent leaders and bureaucrats from Jammu-Kashmir, Ladakh, and North-eastern states. The entities include formerJ&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, MoS Sports Kiren Rijiju,  Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to name a few. China and India are currently in talks to 'disengage and de-escalate' troops at the LAC with India firm on a return to status quo.

With several key diplomats including 40 IFS officers (serving and retired) being allegedly spied upon, US tech giant - Facebook has allegedly banned Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology from its platform. Zhenhua has maintained that it was privately owned and had no background in the Chinese military or the Chinese government, justifying its 'operation' as neither illegal nor unreasonable, claims Indian Express. It has also stated that it collects information from public sources and not private information from confidential sources, state reports.

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What is govt's response to 'Chinese spying'?

The same report was raised in the Rajya Sabha's Zero Hour on Wednesday by Congress MP K C Venugopal, asking if the government has taken any action in this regard. In response, Union External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar stated that the government has taken up the issue with the Chinese envoy in India - Sun Weidong. He also stated that the Chinese have denied their involvement with the 'alleged spying'. 

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"The Chinese side conveyed that Shenzen Zhenhua is a private company and had stated its position publicly. In their part, the Chinese Foreign ministry maintained that there was no connection between the company concerned and the Chinese government," said Jaishankar. Jaishankar said the government has constituted an expert committee under the National Cyber Security Coordinator to study these reports and evaluate their implications - submitting a report within 30 days. A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an inquiry into the issue and an FIR to be registered under Cyber terrorism.

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