Senior officials and intelligence agencies across Europe have been sounding the alarm that hybrid campaigns orchestrated by Russia and China have increasingly converged, posing an amplified threat to Western security. While, hybrid warfare, characterised by attacking democratic governance through a blend of military and non-military means such as cyber operations, disinformation, sabotage and espionage is nothing new, the strategic alignment of Russia and China in a combined campaign certainly is.

Russia and China both deploy sophisticated cyber capabilities against Western targets, including governments, corporations and critical infrastructure. Chinese state-sponsored groups such as MirrorFace, previously focused primarily on East Asia, have expanded their cyber-espionage campaign into Europe, closely mirroring Russian cyber-espionage patterns. Similarly, Kremlin hackers that have long targeted Europe have also consistently targeted the diplomatic, financial and defence sectors in Japan, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan.

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