China’s Cyber Parity Raises the Cost of Blind Spots
China’s offensive cyber capability now looks close to U.S. level, and the practical problem is not just stronger attacks. It is that Dutch intelligence says most Chinese operations against Dutch interests are still missed, so defenders may be protecting against what they can see while missing the footholds already in place.
The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD says only a limited share of Chinese cyber operations against Dutch interests is detected and mitigated. It also ties the shift to the PLA’s 2024 cyber restructuring and cites broader reporting that China-linked groups doubled zero-day exploitation in 2025, which points to a more mature and more persistent intrusion capability.
For critical infrastructure, the risk is pre-positioned access that stays quiet until a geopolitical trigger. If that access already exists in Western networks, the damage may arrive long after the original intrusion was missed.