Hong Kong, May 6 -- China is a police state, a nation whose people are under constant surveillance, plus it owns one of the world's largest espionage networks. It is unclear how many "spies" China has, but last year the BBC quoted a Western intelligence official who estimated China has some 600,000 people working on intelligence and security.

Of course, it is difficult to quantify such things, especially because China utilizes not only paid employees, but proxy organizations like the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and also civilians that collect data for the government. The UFWD is designed to look benign, and so it often takes names like "friendship associations". All these organizations, subservient to the Chinese Communist Party ...