Among other things, the collapse of the current government in Germany and the need for new elections mean that the Chinese government is stepping up its measures on German soil. Priority targets are German officials (politics, business, media) as well as relevant institutions and organisations (political foundations, think tanks, selected university departments). To this end, they operate individual cells in Berlin that keep a close eye on government operations and the activities of the coalition partners in the collapsing government. The cells consist of different groups of people and do not necessarily have to be Chinese citizens or of Chinese origin. More important are their respective, useful accesses. The information in which they are interested is obtained and processed in different ways. This is partly done in consultation with other governments, provided they do not stand in the way of Chinese interests. Special targets are dealt with in a coordinated ...
"Information at best will always be in some part fragmentary, obsolete, and ambiguous." (Armstrong, Willis C. (et al.): The Hazards of Single-Outcome Forecasting, in: Westerfield Bradford, H. (Ed.), Inside CIA's private world, Yale 1995, p. 242)