The Government of China is engaged in espionage overseas, directed through diverse methods via the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the United Front Work Department (UFWD), People's Liberation Army (PLA); (vis-à-vis the Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department) and numerous front organizations and state-owned enterprises. It employs a variety of tactics including cyber espionage to gain access to sensitive information remotely, signals intelligence, human intelligence as well as the exertion of political influence via the UFWD through the co-optation of ethnic Chinese diaspora communities and associations. The Chinese government is also engaged in industrial espionage aimed at gathering information to bolster its economy, as well as transnat