Netherlands sees spy threat from China, Russia

The Dutch intelligence service AIVD highlighted Tuesday the threat to Dutch interests of espionage activities by Russia and China, as it presented its latest annual report.

"In the past few years a number of countries has undertaken espionage activities and I'll specifically mention China and Russia," AIVD chief Gerard Bouman told a press conference.

Bouman said his service had "persuaded a number of intelligence officers of different countries to leave the Netherlands" in 2007.

In its report for 2007, the AIVD warns that there were "concrete threats to vital Dutch information and computer technology networks that were masterminded from China."

Bouman would not elaborate on which networks were targetted and why.

Russia is trying to "secretly gather information about the energy sector," the AIVD added, with a rise in Russian intelligence gathering efforts being seen in the Netherlands last year.