Lessons from Taiwan’s defense planning reveal serious vulnerabilities in U.S. homeland security, particularly the risk that Beijing could activate sleeper cells composed of gangsters already inside the United States.
Each year, Taiwan conducts the Han Kuang military exercises, a nationwide defense drill in which the military, public servants, civilians, and even schoolchildren participate in simulated responses to a Chinese invasion.
These scenarios are drawn from ongoing assessments of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and recent Chinese military activity, using U.S.-designed simulation software that models invasion strategies based on current PLA trends.
These exercises test Taiwan’s preparedness against a wide range of threats far beyond a conventional military assault. Scenarios include cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining public morale, naval blockades to cripple the economy, and amphibious assaults targeting key ports and airports.
The U.S. intelligence community and Department of Defense monitor these exercises and use the information to assess how a Chinese attack might unfold, taking steps to deter or counter such tactics.
However, one scenario emphasized in Taiwan’s planning remains largely overlooked in the United States: the potential presence of a Chinese fifth column.
This refers to sleeper agents, sympathizers, or covert operatives already inside the country who could activate pre-positioned assets and conduct sabotage operations targeting power grids, telecom networks, and transportation infrastructure, seriously undermining national defense and internal stability.
Taiwan’s television series Zero Day dramatizes the Han Kuang exercises, portraying a scenario in which Chinese operatives and local collaborators orchestrate prison breaks.
The released convicts, along with armed fifth columnists and gang members, unleash chaos by blocking roads and disrupting civil order. Based on real intelligence assessments, the show highlights how Chinese criminal networks already inside a country could tip the balance in a future invasion.
Chinese criminal networks are firmly established in the United States. These organizations include traditional triads such as the 14K Triad, led by Wan Kuok Koi, “Broken Tooth,” a key figure in global organized crime.
While the 14K dominates meth trafficking in the Asia-Pacific, it also exemplifies a criminal enterprise providing services to the Chinese government.
Other major networks include Sun Yee On, Wo Shing Wo, and Tongs like the Fuk Ching and Flying Dragons.
Additional actors include Snakehead smugglers involved in human trafficking, the Fujian Gang, the Cantonese Mafia, and diaspora gangs with mainland links that operate through business fronts and student associations.
Chinese organized crime in America operates through a loose but disciplined confederation overseen from New York by mafias rooted in southern China, according to U.S. officials.
Known as “triads” after historic secret society emblems, these groups wield influence both within China and across the diaspora, and are believed to maintain ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The coordination is extensive. In 2019, the DEA discovered that triad bosses had traveled from China to New York for sit-downs to issue directives and broker peace among factions. New York had become a command hub for narcotics and money laundering.
Even more concerning is the documented connection between Chinese organized crime and state intelligence services. Beijing has built a broad surveillance network on U.S. soil.
Between 2016 and 2022, four Chinese public security bureaus reportedly established 102 overseas police service stations across 53 countries.
In the U.S., these stations have been identified in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and San Francisco, as well as in smaller communities in Nebraska and Minnesota.
In the event of a conflict, Beijing could activate Chinese criminal networks to advance broader strategic objectives.
These groups, with technical expertise and ties to the Chinese government, are well-positioned to support both cyber and physical operations.
Chinese cybercriminals—early adopters of artificial intelligence—could assist state-sponsored attacks targeting ports, railways, airports, 5G infrastructure, fiber-optic lines, power grids, energy facilities, and water treatment plants.
U.S. agencies including CISA, the NSA, and the FBI have already warned that PRC cyber actors are pre-positioning themselves within American IT networks in preparation for potential attacks.
On the ground, these networks could carry out arson, sabotage, low-tech IED attacks, and exploit protests to incite unrest or target government buildings using insider knowledge.
They may even conduct assassinations of key officials to destabilize leadership. Beyond physical violence, they could spread panic through coordinated disinformation campaigns on social media, intimidate Chinese-American communities, and target Taiwanese-American and pro-democracy activists.
These networks are also capable of smuggling weapons, drones, and surveillance gear into the U.S., protecting deep-cover operatives, facilitating spy exfiltration, and moving assets to support intelligence operations.
The Chinese Communist Party has a documented history of leveraging criminal organizations for political ends. U.S. security officials should watch for key warning signs: sudden CCP-linked investments in U.S. businesses that may serve as fronts, gang activity near strategic infrastructure, increased recruitment of Chinese nationals into sensitive roles, unexplained relocations to key areas, and suspicious firearms activity—such as bulk purchases, straw buyers, or acquisition of specialized weapons by individuals with expired visas or unclear legal status.
While President Trump works to secure the U.S. border and ICE continues deporting illegal aliens, DHS and the FBI must also prioritize identifying, arresting, and prosecuting, or deporting, Chinese nationals involved in organized crime.
Under China’s National Intelligence Law, all Chinese citizens can be compelled to act on Beijing’s behalf. Any individual linked to these networks could serve as an agent of the Chinese state, posing a serious threat to U.S. national security.
The post The Dragon’s Hidden Hand: How Chinese Organized Crime Could Serve as a Fifth Column in America appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.