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WASHINGTON: The top U.S. intelligence official stepped up the Trump administration’s harsh attacks on Beijing on Thursday (December 3), calling China the greatest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since World War II. and saying that it was inclined to global domination.
“The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the United States and the rest of the planet economically, militarily, and technologically,” National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe said in an opinion piece on the Wall Street Journal website. .
Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman appointed by Trump to America’s top spy job last spring, said China poses “the greatest threat to America today and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom in the entire world. world since World War II. “
He said he had shifted resources within the $ 85 billion annual federal budget allocated to intelligence to increase the focus on China.
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Ratcliffe said that China’s economic espionage approach was threefold: “Steal, replicate and replace.”
He said the strategy was for Chinese entities to steal the intellectual property of American companies, copy it, and then replace American companies in the global market.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy dismissed Ratcliffe’s comments as “factual distorting” and hypocritical, saying they showed “the entrenched Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices of some people on the American side.
Beijing has frequently asked US leaders to reduce their rhetoric on China, to which it attributes fear of China’s growing role in the world.
Ratcliffe’s essay was the latest anti-China broadside from the administration of President Donald Trump, which seeks to cement the outgoing president’s tough legacy with China following his defeat in the November 3 election.
Trump’s approach has pushed relations between the world’s two largest economies to their lowest point in decades, and analysts say it could limit the incoming Biden administration’s room for maneuver in dealing with Beijing.
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Ratcliffe alluded to reports compiled by US intelligence agencies that Chinese representatives have tried to interfere in US domestic politics.
He also denounced that China had stolen US defense technology to advance President Xi Jinping’s aggressive military modernization plans.
“The election is over. Now let’s all be honest about China,” Ratcliffe told Reuters after the article was published.
Among other issues, Washington and Beijing have clashed over China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, its tighter control over Hong Kong, its disputed claims in the South China Sea, trade, and allegations of human rights crimes in Xinjiang.
Ratcliffe, who briefly served on the House Intelligence Committee before Trump appointed him to office, has been accused by current and former Democrats and intelligence officials of politicizing intelligence.
In his essay, Ratcliffe said that Chinese authorities had “conducted human tests” on members of the Chinese military “in hopes of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities.” He did not elaborate.
READ: Some damage to Sino-US relations ‘Irreparable’, Chinese state media warns
US-based think tanks have reported that China is placing increasing importance on biotechnology in its military strategy, but have not released detailed reports on the type of testing alleged by Ratcliffe.
On Thursday, the Trump administration restricted travel to the United States by members of the ruling Communist Party of China and their families.
On Wednesday, it banned cotton imports from a quasi-military organization in Xinjiang that it says uses the forced labor of detained Muslims, while the House passed a law to evict Chinese companies from US stock exchanges if they fail to comply with the audit rules.
China accused US politicians of fabricating news of detained Muslims who are forced to work in Xinjiang.
In an emailed statement, the embassy spokesperson said “no one deserves the title of Empire of Hacking and Spying better than the US.” And he denounced that both the US government and US companies, surveillance and attack. “
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Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert from the think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Ratcliffe’s comments appeared aimed at blocking a tough approach before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
“It appears to be part of a larger effort to tie Biden’s hands and limit his room for maneuver in China politics,” he said.
“In previous administrations, the norm has been to avoid taking such actions during a presidential transition, but the Trump administration has long established a pattern for contradicting the norm.”
