called the Chinese Students' and Scholars' Association of Leuven. In 2005 a leading figure of the Association defected to Belgium, providing information to the Sûreté de l'Etat on hundreds of spies engaged in economic espionage across Europe. The group had no obvious links to Chinese diplomats and was focused on getting moles into laboratories and universities in the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Belgium. The People's Daily, an organ of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, dismissed the reports as fabrications triggered by fears of China's economic development. In February 2019, a report was released by European External Action Service which estimated that there were 250 Chinese MSS spies operating in Brussels, the capital of the European Union. Estonia In March 2021, Estonian scientist Tarmo Kõuts was convicted of spying for China. According to the Estonian Internal Security Service, Kõuts was recruited in 2018 by China's Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, and was arrested on 9 September 2020. Kõuts was paid approximately €17,000 by his handlers. Kõuts worked for the Maritime Institute of Tallinn Technical University, and was also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Estonian Ministry of Defence and the NATO Undersea Research Center. Finland According to the security research firm F5, Chinese hackers launched widespread attacks against Finnish Internet of things computers prior to the 2018 Russia–United States summit in Helsinki. In March 2021, the Finnish government implicated the China-linked hacking group APT31 in a hack of the Finnish Parliament. In July that same year, as part of a joint EU/NATO/US/UK statement on Chinese-backed hacking campaigns (see 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server data breach), the British National Cyber Security Centre joined in accusing China-linked hacking groups of being behind the Finnish Parliament hack. France There have been several incidents of suspected Chinese spies in France. This includes Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese opera singer from Beijing who convinced a French diplomat that he was a woman, and spied on France. French media also portrayed Li Li Whuang (李李), a 22-year-old Chinese intern at car parts maker Valeo, as an industrial spy. Both the French prosecution and Valeo refuted media claims of spying and the case was later considered to be a psychosis. Li Li was ultimately convicted of violating the confidentiality clause of her contract and served two months in prison, but was allowed to continue her doctoral