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South China morning post
Outgoing US Justice Department Officials Call Their ‘China Initiative’ To Counter Beijing A Success
The US Department of Justice awarded itself high marks in a report card released Monday on the second anniversary of its “China Initiative,” a program aimed at mitigating Beijing’s influence in the United States. The assessment, released as a new administration prepares to take power, comes as more Republican voices try to pressure President Donald Trump to acknowledge his electoral defeat and as Attorney General William Barr is criticized for acting more like the personal attorney for Trump who as the nation’s chief legal guardian, contemplates his legacy. “The department has made incredible strides in countering systemic efforts [China] to improve its economic and military strength at the expense of the United States, “Barr said in the report. “While much work remains to be done, the department is committed to holding accountable those who would steal or illicitly obtain the intellectual capital of the US that will power the future.” Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter at While legal, academic, and Chinese-American groups have highlighted some of the initiative’s collateral damages, including its crippling effect on open scientific exchange and the potential demonization of Asians- Americans, most expect it to continue in some form. Under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, China’s influence operations have intensified, safeguarding intellectual property theft is a national priority, and softly looking at Beijing is not a good use of political capital at a time when the team Incoming is busy with Covid- Nov. 19, an economic recession and racial tension, analysts said. The initiative was initiated in early November 2018 by Attorney General Jeff Session. It’s just days before Trump fired him for failing to block a special counsel investigation into Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election. The program’s stated goals include investigating and prosecuting trade secret theft and economic espionage, better countering threats posed by Chinese foreign investment, exposing supply chain vulnerabilities, and raising public awareness of threats posed by Beijing. The United States accuses a Chinese investigator of visa fraud, alleges that the PLA is active. One of its problems, some legal experts said, is that its success has been difficult to quantify. “I don’t know what the measure would be,” said Dan Harris, a partner at Seattle-based Harris Bricken law firm and co-author of the China Law Blog. “It seems like they are stepping it up in terms of going after Chinese IP theft. But I feel like a lot of these things have been known for a while and now they are looking for them to look good,” Harris added. “And there seem to be a lot of people in China. It’s great that they’re going after them, but they’ll never catch up. ”Other members of the intelligence community said the program deserved credit for warning Beijing that the United States is paying attention to its influence operations, although a Biden administration could take steps to reduce the chance of Asian Americans being targeted. “We are calling China and notifying actors in the United States that they must take this seriously. That at least reduces the ‘attack surface’ in compared to 10 years ago when it was fully open: industry, investment, academia, “said Joseph Kelly, president of the consulting firm Pointweaver and former government official. and Pentagon intelligence. Kelly said the Biden administration was likely to focus more on rules than ethnic identity in relation to the Trump White House by, in part, toning down the rhetoric. “Expect the initiative to continue under a Biden administration but with more willingness to be surgical about it rather than using this as a sledgehammer,” he said. “Academia and industry are good examples where we have tons of people who are Chinese citizens or of Chinese descent who are now viewed as inherently suspicious.” FBI and Justice Department officials deny racial bias, pointing to charges brought against a white Harvard professor who allegedly concealed his participation in the China Thousand Talents academic recruitment program, and says they go where she is. evidence leads them. Chinese students ‘shouldn’t be in our schools spying,’ says Mike Pompeo, Ron Kim, a member of the New York State Assembly representing a New York City district with a large Asian population, said he had a personal look at some of the show’s excesses. His father-in-law came to the United States from China as an academic, earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Cornell University, and spent his career working non-profit. “When I think of him and his core of friends constantly talking about the environment now, it’s really sad,” Kim said. “We continue to put barriers between countries for political reasons. The fact that there may be one or two bad agents has nothing to do with the academic world in general ”. Among the achievements cited by the Department of Justice in its report on Monday: * Launching 10 cases of trade secret theft, five directly related to the ROC [PRC] government, with three defendants so far pleading guilty. “The theft of sensitive information and technology by the Chinese Communist Party is not a rumor or an unfounded accusation,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI opens a new China-related counterintelligence case nearly every 10 hours and we will continue our aggressive efforts to counter criminal activity in China.” * Leveling of fraud, false statements, taxes, smuggling and related charges against 10 academics affiliated with US research institutions, with three convictions obtained so far. Academia remains “one of our most vulnerable sectors because its traditions of openness and the importance of international exchanges for the free flow of ideas leave it vulnerable to exploitation by the People’s Republic of China,” the department said. * Exposing six people studying at US universities related to the military institutes of the People’s Liberation Army and who concealed their affiliations when applying for US visas. After the FBI intensified investigations, “a large number of Chinese PLA-affiliated and undeclared investigators fled the United States,” the report says. * Charging hackers working for the PLA and China’s Ministry of State Security with the 2017 Equifax intrusion and campaigns targeting biomedical companies conducting Covid-19 related research. However, most of them are based in China and are unlikely to face legal process. * Intensify the use of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (Fara), which requires foreign agents to register, to oppose Chinese-influenced operations, and open a “record number of Fara investigations” and new company registrations Chinese media. * Expand efforts to thwart Chinese espionage, accusing two former CIA officials and two other former US intelligence officials of conspiring to provide secrets to China, with a particular focus on China’s use of social media sites to attack Americans. * Intensify reviews of Chinese foreign investment in strategic US sectors such as telecommunications, supply chains, and software. Barr has been one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, calling on federal prosecutors to pursue allegations of “vote-tabulation irregularities” in the November 3 election. In comments Monday, National Security Advisor Robert O Brien said that the National Security Council was preparing for a “very professional transition” because it appeared that Biden had won the election. O’Brien’s comments were in stark contrast to those of Trump, who tweeted shortly before midnight Sunday, “I WON THE ELECTION,” even as more members of his party quietly prepare for a transition. More from South China Morning Post: * US Laws Ill-Equipped to Stop Alleged Chinese State-Sponsored Technology Transfers, Says Congressional Group * More Chinese Citizens Registered with US Customs, Data Shows Government’s calling its ‘China Initiative’ to counter Beijing’s success first appeared on the South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post, download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.
