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The prime U.S intelligence official stepped up the Trump administration’s harsh assaults on Beijing on Thursday, labeling China the largest risk to democracy and freedom worldwide since World War Two and saying it was bent on world domination.
“The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,” Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe mentioned in an opinion article on the Wall Street Journal web site.
Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman appointed by Trump to the highest U.S spy job final spring, mentioned China posed “the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War Two.
“He mentioned he had shifted sources throughout the $85 billion annual federal finances allotted to intelligence to extend the deal with China.
Ratcliffe mentioned China’s financial espionage strategy was three-fold: “Rob, Replicate and Replace.”
He mentioned the technique was for Chinese entities to steal American corporations’ mental property, copy it after which supplant U.S corporations within the world market place.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy rejected Ratcliffe’s feedback as “fact-distorting” and hypocritical and mentioned they confirmed “the entrenched Cold-War mindset and ideological prejudices of some people on the U.S side”.
Beijing has ceaselessly known as on U.S leaders to dial again their rhetoric on China, which it blames on worry of China’s rising function on the earth.
Ratcliffe’s essay was the newest broadside towards China from President Donald Trump’s administration because it seeks to cement the outgoing president’s tough-on-China legacy following his Nov three election defeat.
Trump’s strategy has taken relations between the world’s two largest economies to their lowest level in a long time and analysts say it may restrict the incoming Biden administration’s room for maneuver in coping with Beijing.
Ratcliffe alluded to studies collected by U.S intelligence businesses that Chinese representatives have sought to intrude in U.S home politics.
He additionally charged that China had stolen U.S protection know-how to gas President Xi Jinping’s aggressive navy modernization plans.
“The election is over. Now let’s all be honest about China,” Ratcliffe informed Reuters after the article was printed.
Among different points, Washington and Beijing have clashed over China’s dealing with of the coronavirus outbreak, its tightening grip on Hong Kong, its disputed claims within the South China Sea, commerce and accusations of human rights crimes in Xinjiang.
Ratcliffe, who served solely briefly on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee earlier than Trump appointed him to his function, has been accused by Democrats and present and former intelligence officers of politicizing intelligence.
In his essay, Ratcliffe mentioned Chinese authorities had “conducted human testing” on members of the Chinese military “in hopes of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities.”
He didn’t elaborate U.S-based assume tanks have reported that China is giving rising significance to biotechnology in its navy technique however they haven’t launched detailed studies in regards to the form of testing alleged by Ratcliffe.
On Thursday, the Trump administration restricted journey to the United States by members of China’s ruling Communist Party and their households.On Wednesday, it banned cotton imports from a quasi-military group in Xinjiang it says makes use of compelled labor of detained Muslims, whereas the House handed a legislation to kick Chinese corporations off U.S inventory exchanges if they don’t adjust to auditing guidelines.
China accused U.S politicians of fabricating information of detained Muslims being compelled into labor in Xinjiang.
In an emailed assertion, the embassy spokesperson mentioned “no one deserves the title of Empire of Hacking and Spying better than the U.S” and charged that each the united statesgovernment and U.S corporations had lengthy carried out “large-scale, organized and indiscriminate cyber theft, surveillance and attack.”
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia skilled on the Center for Strategic and International Studies assume tank, mentioned Ratcliffe’s feedback appeared geared toward locking in a troublesome strategy earlier than President-elect Joe Biden takes workplace on Jan 20.
“It does appear to part of a broader effort to tie Biden’s hands and limit his room to maneuver on China policy,” she mentioned.
“In prior administrations, the norm has been to avoid taking such actions during a presidential transition, but the Trump administration has long set a pattern of bucking the norm.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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