Threats From China âMore Brazen, More Damagingâ Than Ever Before: FBI Director
From The Epoch Times By February 1, 2022
Natalieâs Commentary:
Is this a red herring, a smoke screen, possibly intending to disguise and divert the publicâs attention before and after Peter Schweizer, President of Government Accountability Institute, releases his new book titled âRed Handedâ within this week.
The astonishing revelations in this book exposes big tech executives are working for China and President Xi Jinping, a genocidal communist dictator, through a clandestine of meetings and events that has transferred United States secret powers in cybersecurity and intelligence to China in the final event of destroying America and Americans freedoms and lives.
In addition to that, the illegitimate and corrupted President Joe Biden of the United States of America and his son Hunter Biden have received a sum of $31 million dollars from Chinese individuals who are linked to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence. In particular, a sketchy Chinese businessman named Che Fang. His business partner at the time he was striking deals with Hunter Biden was the Vice Minister at the Ministry for State Security (MSS). He was also in charge of, among other things, recruiting foreign nationals to spy for China.
As Peter Schweizer pointed out it doesnât get any higher than that, and Iâll add corrupted. ~ Natalie
FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Januy 31, 2022, âThe United States is facing a new level of threat from the Chinese regime thatâs âmore brazen, more damagingâ than ever before.â
âWhen we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology, thereâs just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China,â Wray said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.
In fact, these theft incidents have been happening âliterally every day,â he said, noting that the bureau is opening new cases to counter Chinaâs intelligence operations about every 12 hours.
âThey identify key technologies to target,â Wray said, pointing to Chinaâs industrial blueprint known as âMade in China 2025.â âThen they throw every tool in their arsenal at stealing the technology to succeed in those areas.â
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released the blueprint in 2015, a 10-year economic plan aimed at advancing 10 domestic tech manufacturing industries. These sectors include robotics, new energy vehicles, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, maritime vessels, and agricultural machinery and equipment.
To steal what it needs, the Chinese regime has unleashed âa massive, sophisticated hacking program thatâs bigger than those of every other major country combined,â Wray said, adding that Chinaâs own hackers often work with cybercriminals.
One such hacking incident was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice in July 2020 when it indicted two Chinese hackerswho worked with CCPâs Ministry of State Security (MSS)âthe regimeâs chief intelligence agency. The two allegedly targeted hundreds of victims, including companies, government and nongovernmental organizations, and U.S.-based human rights activists, in a decade-long campaign.
A China-backed hacking group, with purported ties to the Chinese regime, was behind the 2021 cyberattack against Microsoft, in which it exploited vulnerabilities in the companyâs Exchange Server software, compromising tens of thousands of systems globally.
Aside from hacking, Beijing also deploys its intelligence agents to co-opt individuals who can assist with operations such as by providing cover, spotting and assessing sources, and helping with the theft, Wray said.
Xu was convicted in November 2021 after his failed attempt to obtain GE Aviationâs trade secrets through the recruited engineer. According to Wray, Xu is just âone Chinese intelligence officer working for an entire unit dedicated solely to stealing aviation secrets.â
Wray also spoke about a case involving Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group, to show the devasting effect Chinaâs theft has had on U.S. businesses. According to Wray, U.S.-based firm AMSC, after seeing its proprietary codes on wind turbine stolen by Sinovel, became a smaller company with about 600 fewer employees.
Sinovel was convicted of federal charges in January 2018 for stealing from AMSC, which resulted in losses of over $800 million for the company.
âThe Chinese government also makes investments and partnerships to position their proxies to take valuable technology,â Wray said.
The Chinese regime also is known for requiring foreign companies to enter joint ventures with Chinese companies, many of them backed by the communist regime, in order to obtain the foreign firmâs know-how, technology, and intellectual property.
Targeting Individuals and Companies
Wray said China is also âgetting more brazenâ in controlling certain speech inside the United States.
âIn November, just two months ago, the Chinese Embassy put out letters effectively warning U.S. businesses that if they want to do business in China, they need to fight against Chinese government-related bills in our Congress,â he said, without identifying the businesses.
The FBI directorâs comments appear to confirm an exclusive report by Reuters last year. Citing multiple unnamed sources, Reuters reported that Chinaâs embassy in Washington was sending letters to U.S. executives, pushing them to urge lawmakers to drop specific bills that âseek to enhance U.S. competitiveness.â
The letter allegedly asked companies to oppose the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement (EAGLE) Act, according to Reuters. The Senate approved USICA in June last year, while the EAGLE Act, which stalled in the Senate, has been included in the recently unveiled House measure called the America COMPETES Act of 2022.
The Chinese regime has also set its sights on co-opting American politicians, Wray said, aiming âto corrupt our leaders, to buy or intimidate acquiescence to their will.â
âââThe Chinese government understands that politicians in smaller roles today may rise to become more influential over time, so they look to cultivate talent early, often state and local officials, to ensure that politicians at all levels of government will be ready to take a call and advocate on behalf of Beijingâs agenda,â he said.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) was the subject of controversy in late 2020 after it was reported that he had ties with a suspected Chinese spy, Christine Fang, when he was a local city council member prior to 2015.
From 2011 to 2015, Fang, a Chinese student at California State UniversityâEast Bay, cultivated extensive ties with local politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area by volunteering in fundraising campaigns and attending political events. U.S. intelligence officials believe she was working under the direction of the MSS, according to an Axios investigation. Swalwell said he severed ties with Fang after the FBI alerted him of her suspicious activities in 2015.
Chinaâs Fox Hunt, an operation launched by Beijing in 2014 to repatriate Chinese fugitives, is also a concern, according to Wray.
âCurrently, there are hundreds of people on U.S. soil who are on the Chinese governmentâs official Fox Hunt list and many more not on the official list,â he said. âMost of the targets are green card holders, naturalized citizens, folks with important rights and protections under U.S. law.â
Chinaâs transnational repression has gone beyond Fox Hunt.
âFor decades, the Chinese Communist Party has targeted, threatened, and harassed U.S.-based Tibetans and Uyghurs, Falun Gongmembers, pro-democracy advocates, and any others who question their legitimacy or authority,â Wray said.
Nine individuals acting as âillegal agentsâ for Beijing were indicted in July of 2021. They are accused of trying to force a former CCP official living in the United States to return to China.Â