Isn't this well known fact? It isn't a secret that the chinese, along with the israelis, russians, british, french, japanese, koreans, canadians and even the saudis have operatives in academia, government, business, etc.
And of course we have operatives in all those countries as well.
Not to mention that "operative" has a specific meaning in the Intelligence Community. While the intent of this report appears to imply that operatives are under official control, they are mostly people who might be relied on to support or instigate a policy preference. Contrast with "agent," "handler," etc.
That includes then a lot of Chinese academics who are sympathetic to their country's ideology. A national being sympathetic to their country, imagine that.
And of course we have operatives in all those countries as well.