FBI: US response insufficient to China's intelligence threat

This was the statement of a senior official of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the congressmen on December 12. According to this person, the government, along with the US business community and scholars, need to apply a more comprehensive approach to Beijing's commercial intelligence plot.

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (left). Photo: AP

Speaking at the US Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, Mr. Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI, said: "China is seeing itself as an alternative model of the world, without a democratic system of government, and this country is seeking to undermine the free and open rules-based order that we helped establish after World War II."

Mr Priestap, who is retiring at the end of the year, warned that the US has not done enough to adequately respond to Chinese espionage.

Making a similar warning, US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said: "The media hysteria surrounding Russia has distracted attention from a larger and more obvious threat: China's plot to surpass the United States to become the world's preeminent superpower in every aspect of society."

US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers. Photo: AFP

Meanwhile, US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said that by stealing trade secrets through computer intrusions and recruiting corporate "insiders", the activities of Chinese intelligence agencies "target American companies".

Between 2011 and 2018, Demers said, more than 90 percent of cases involving “economic espionage on behalf of a state” involved China. That included the prosecution of Chinese intelligence officer Xu Yanjun, who was suspected of trying to steal trade secrets from U.S. and European aerospace companies, and 10 other Chinese intelligence agents who were also suspected of similar crimes.