As Congress focuses on a bipartisan discussion of how to strengthen the intelligence community to address global threats, leaders of the U.S. intelligence community agree that “China is increasingly becoming a near-rival competitor to the United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wary told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agency opens an investigation into a China-related case on average every 10 hours. “China is an unparalleled priority for the U.S. intelligence community,” the director of national intelligence also said at the hearing.
“We open a China investigation every ten hours, and I can assure you that’s not because our people have nothing to do at work,” Christopher Wray said Wednesday (April 14) at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the global threats facing the United States.
He went on to add, “We now have more than 2,000 investigations related to the Chinese government, and in economic espionage investigations alone, there has been an increase of about 1,300 percent over the last several years.”
Lawmakers are concerned that the threat posed by Beijing does not stop at topics such as intellectual property theft and espionage, but also involves China’s influence on American society. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Beijing works to attempt to shape and influence the U.S. political environment to advance policies and narratives in its favor.
“I think we’ve made a mistake in not focusing on China’s ability and its growing and intensifying efforts to engage them in our political environment on the U.S. side,” Rubio said.
Rubio said both China and Russia are engaged in activities to influence and infiltrate U.S. society, with China even outperforming Russia in some technologies.
FBI Director Christopher Wray responded immediately to this, echoing Rubio’s concerns.” I don’t think there is a country (that) poses a more serious threat to our innovation, our economic security and our idea of democracy than China. The impact of the tools they (China) use in their toolbox on our businesses, on our academic institutions, on our units of government at all levels is far-reaching, widespread and enduring,” he replied.
He further cited as an example the FBI’s filing of a lawsuit last fall against Chinese agents who engaged in illegal law enforcement operations inside the United States. In late October of last year, the FBI filed charges against eight individuals for conducting “opposition-hunting” operations in the United States on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. They are accused of participating in the Communist Party’s “Fox Hunt” to hunt fugitives overseas by threatening, harassing and coercing specific U.S. residents in the United States.
“This shows and illustrates how challenging and diverse this threat is,” the FBI director said at the hearing.
Senate Intelligence Committee Leader: China Wants to Weaken U.S. Leadership in Tech, Asia
Wednesday’s hearing brought together the heads of key agencies in the U.S. intelligence community, including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Director of Central Intelligence William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Commander of U.S. Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency, Army Adm. Paul Nakasone Nakasone), and Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of defense intelligence.
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees hold annual hearings on the topic of global threats, inviting top intelligence community officials to testify and be questioned by lawmakers. However, last year’s hearing was not held due to an official’s refusal to participate, which had once caused dissatisfaction among congressional Democrats. Wednesday’s hearing marks the first time since 2019 that the major intelligence chiefs have resumed the tradition of coming together again.
“I was frustrated last year when the director of national intelligence refused to appear publicly at our committee hearings, and I am pleased that we have restored that tradition and look forward to doing so every year,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Democrat.
China was, not surprisingly, a major focus of the two-hour-long hearing. Sen. Warner said, “As China grows in power and stature, the Chinese Communist Party is trying to undermine America’s position as the world’s leading technological power.”
Warner went on to say that China exports surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes and modernizes its traditional and asymmetric military capabilities, including in the space and cyber domains. He argues that the Chinese Communist Party aims to undermine U.S. leadership in technology and influence in Asia while expanding its power in areas such as the South China Sea.
China an ‘unparalleled’ priority for U.S. intelligence community
Werner’s statement was echoed by U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Haynes. “China is an unparalleled priority for the U.S. intelligence community,” she said in her opening statement.
“China is increasingly becoming a near-rival competitor to the United States, challenging it in a number of areas while seeking to change world norms to make them more favorable to China’s authoritarian regime,” Haynes said.
China also possesses sizable cyber capabilities, she said, and even the smallest amount of use can lead to the temporary harassment of critical infrastructure in a region within the United States.” China is using a comprehensive set of methods to demonstrate its growing power and to pressure its immediate regional neighbors to conform to Beijing’s preferences. This includes claims to disputed territories and sovereignty claims over Taiwan,” Haynes said.
However, Haynes stressed that while China is rapidly becoming capable of challenging the United States in international affairs, it is not without weaknesses.” Its weaknesses in economic, environmental, and demographic makeup are likely to present obstacles to China’s ability to manage the transition phase to achieve its vision of playing a dominant role in the coming decades,” Haynes analyzed to lawmakers.
The report comes a day after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which Haynes heads, released its “Annual Threat Assessment 2021” on Tuesday. It cites China’s efforts to expand its growing influence as one of the greatest threats to the United States and says China is an increasingly powerful competitor to the United States.
The report lists China’s move toward “global power” at the top of a list of threats, followed by Russia, Iran and North Korea.
“Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang have demonstrated the ability and intent to advance their own interests at the expense of the United States and its allies, despite the pandemic,” the 27-page unclassified report said.” China is increasingly becoming a near-rival competitor, challenging the United States in multiple areas – particularly economic, military and technological – and is driving changes in global norms.”
The discussion of China at Wednesday’s hearing largely mirrored the report’s content.
New Coronavirus Origins Probe Progressing Slowly CIA Chief: China Not Being Candid
In addition to this, Senator Rubio questioned the origins of the new coronavirus pandemic that continues to affect the world today. Haynes said the U.S. intelligence community is still unable to determine when, where or how the new coronavirus first began to spread.
“There are two different theories surrounding the components at this point, and those possible scenarios include that it arose naturally from human contact with an infected animal, or as you suggested, it was a laboratory accident, and that’s where we are now,” Haynes said.
CIA Director Burns, for his part, bluntly pointed out that China has a problem with opaque information.
“One thing that’s clear to us and to our analysts is that the Chinese leadership has not been completely forthcoming or completely transparent, either in terms of cooperation with WHO or in terms of providing raw and complete data that would help answer these questions,” Burns said.
In addition to Wednesday’s hearing, the five U.S. intelligence chiefs will go before the House Intelligence Committee Thursday to testify on the same topics and be questioned by House members.
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