ANY MEANS NECESSARY
China is biggest threat to US & already engaging in full-scale cyber war to become world’s #1 superpower, FBI boss warns
CHINA is now the biggest threat to the US and aims to use cyber warfare to become the world's only superpower, the FBI's director has warned.
Christopher Wray said the government in Beijing was using a campaign of espionage, theft, and blackmail to target its opponents and influence US policy.
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The comments come amid escalating tensions between and the Western powers over imposed by the Chinese government in Hong Kong, as well as its handling of the coronavirus.
Last week also saw over concerns about data security, and on Monday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US would .
Speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington on Tuesday, Wray said China was now the "greatest long-term threat" to the US and that the "stakes could not be higher".
"China is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the world's only superpower by any means necessary," he said.
"We've now reached a point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours.
"Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently under way across the country, almost half are related to China."
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Wray added that China has recognized it needed to make technological leaps to surpass America.
"But the sad fact is that instead of engaging in the hard slog of innovation, China often steals American intellectual property and then uses it to compete against the very American companies it victimizes, in effect, cheating twice," he said.
Wray claimed that the financial damage China has caused on the American economy is "breathtaking".
When asked about an estimate, he said he didn't know an exact number.
"Confronting this threat effectively does not mean we shouldn't do business with the Chinese, does not mean we shouldn't host Chinese visitors, it does not mean we shouldn't welcome Chinese students or coexist with China on the world stage," he said.
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"It does mean that when China violates our criminal laws and international norms, we are not going to tolerate, much less enable."
Wray also criticised China's Operation Fox Hunt, a programme that Beijing says is intended to capture fugitives outside China but which critics say is being used to target political opponents living abroad.
"We're talking about political rivals, dissidents, and critics seeking to expose China's extensive human rights violations," he said.
"The Chinese government wants to force them to return to China, and China's tactics to accomplish that are shocking."
Asked about apps like TikTok on Monday, Pompeo said American should only use them if "you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."
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The app, which features 15 seconds to one-minute-long skits, dances, and lip-syncing videos, has denied sharing data with authorities in Beijing.
The and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced in May they were investigating the targeting of American organizations through related research cyber actors and "non-traditional collectors" affiliated with the People's Republic of China.
According to a statement released on May 13, hackers were caught trying to "identify and illicitly obtain valuable intellectual property" and health data related to COVID-19 research.
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