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Washington:
China has boosted its efforts to affect the US presidential election in November and needs President Donald Trump to lose as a result of it sees him as “unpredictable,” a high US intelligence official mentioned Friday.
“We assess that China prefers that President Trump — whom Beijing sees as unpredictable — does not win reelection,” mentioned William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
“China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China,” Evanina mentioned in an announcement.
He pointed to China’s criticism of Trump’s dealing with of the coronavirus epidemic, of the US closure of China’s Houston consulate, and of the US administration’s stances on Chinese actions in Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
“Beijing recognizes that all of these efforts might affect the presidential race,” Evanina mentioned.
Evanina mentioned Iran is utilizing social media disinformation to divide the nation and harm Trump, whereas Russia is interfering to wreck the marketing campaign of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
“Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former vice president Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment,'” Evanina mentioned.
“This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was vice president for his role in the Obama administration’s policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia,” he mentioned.
Evanina, the highest intelligence official monitoring threats to the election, gave no particulars on the surface interference.
A powerful hacking and social media marketing campaign by Russia in 2016 is credited by US intelligence with serving to Trump to victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“Foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections are a direct threat to the fabric of our democracy,” he mentioned.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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