WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2018) Senior US government officials said China has interfered in American domestic affairs at levels never before seen to win the ongoing trade war and determine the outcome of elections.
On Thursday, US Vice President Mike Pence said during remarks at the Hudson Institute in Washington that China has launched an unprecedented effort to influence US votes in the 2018 midterm and 2020 presidential elections.
"China has initiated an unprecedented effort to influence American public opinion, the 2018 elections and the environment leading in the 2020 presidential elections," Pence said. "[US] President [DonaldTrump's leadership is working, and China wants a different American president."
Last week Trump said Beijing is attempting to influence the US vote to counter his administration's tough trade policies. Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi soon after rejected the allegations.
Pence said China's influence campaign has reached levels of intensity hitherto unseen.
"Beijing has mobilized covert actors, front groups, and propaganda outlets to shift Americans' perception of Chinese policies," Pence said. "As a senior career member of our intelligence community recently told me, what the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country."
Beijing has tried to influence business leaders in the United States to condemn the actions undertaken by the Trump administration on trade and to the US president's agenda, Pence added.
Pence said Beijing's efforts to interfere in US domestic policy and politics are more proactive than ever before.
China is employing a whole-of-government approach, using political, economic and military tools as well as propaganda to advance its influence and promote its interests in the United States, Pence said.
In addition, Chinese security agencies have masterminded the theft of US technology including cutting-edge military blueprints, according to the vice president.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton during a conference call on Thursday said more information regarding Chinese interference should be released in the coming days or weeks.
"We expect there will be more on this subject in the days and weeks ahead," Bolton said. "Much of what we know remains classified."
Bolton said he has never seen anything like China's recent actions when it comes to foreign meddling in US domestic affairs.
Being able to declassify more information will help facilitate more of the US public's understanding of the threat, Bolton said.
The US government is currently undergoing intelligence collection activities, and working to protect sources and methods, he added,
China's broad effort is attempting to influence political opinion through academic institutions, think tanks, and through intimidating individual scholars, Bolton said.
US Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, praised Pence's speech and its show of strength.
"I welcome the Administration's heightened commitment to confront China's aggression," Rubio said. "The American people deserve to know more about the scope and scale of China's political influence operations in the US."
Washington and Beijing have become increasingly embroiled in a trade conflict, with both sides imposing tariffs on the other's exports.
The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on around $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, and Beijing has slapped retaliatory tariffs on approximately $110 billion worth of US goods. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on another $267 billion worth of Chinese goods.
As part of China's response to the latest round of US tariffs, Beijing canceled planned trade talks between the two countries scheduled to take place in Washington last week.
