FBI: China is a real danger to US security

During a hearing on October 10 before senators on the Homeland Security Committee, FBI Director Christopher, when comparing the dangers of Russia and China to the United States, said: "Russia is struggling in many ways to continue to exist after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This country is fighting a war today. China is fighting a war tomorrow."

US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said China is making an unprecedented effort to influence US public opinion. However, Ms. Nielsen admitted that US agencies "have not recorded any efforts by China to sabotage US election infrastructure".

FBI Director Christopher Wray. Photo: Getty Images

Recommendations for the Trump Administration

Senators on the US Homeland Security Committee held the hearing to clarify a speech by Vice President Mike Pence last week, in which he said that Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election was "less dangerous" than China's interference campaign against the US.

The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has also just released its annual report amid increasingly tense relations between Washington and Beijing, in which it affirmed that commitment to the rule of law is "the foundation for cooperative alliances and security partnerships, for multilateral exchange mechanisms, for free trade and investment".

“Any effort to rethink the US administration’s approach to China should emphasise adherence to international norms and America’s comparable economic and security interests,” SCMPciting CECC report.

The CECC was established in 2000 to conduct public hearings and issue annual reports to the US Congress and the president on China-related issues. The agency is currently headed by Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

The CECC report recommends that the Trump administration continue to pressure Beijing to end China's "harmful policies" that harm US trade.

"The relationship between China and the United States is very tense in many areas," Republican Senator Chris Smith said at a CECC press conference on October 10, referring to the trade war between the two countries and the tense situation in the South China Sea. However, he said that some parts of the Chinese government are showing signs of being ready to bring the relationship back to normal.

The US-China war is becoming increasingly tense. Illustrative photo.

China is a strategic competitor of the United States.

Speaking on October 4, Vice President Mike Pence reiterated President Donald Trump’s earlier accusation that China was seeking to interfere in the US midterm elections. Observers have repeatedly raised this concern, but Beijing has strongly denied it.

Mr. Pence also criticized China for its militarization of the East Sea, accusing Beijing of enticing three Latin American countries to sever ties with Taiwan and implementing "debt-trap diplomacy" to expand its influence.

However, the US vice president did not give any options to show how Washington would deal with the above issues.

“This is the first US administration to explicitly label China as a strategic competitor in its national security and military strategy document released last year,” David Shambaugh, a China scholar at George Washington University, told the South China Morning Post.

"Former President George W. Bush called China a strategic competitor during his campaign, but as president he stopped using the term. America competes with China in almost every area rather than cooperating, but we will cooperate whenever possible," Shambaugh said, referring to North Korea and security in the Western Pacific.

During a recent visit to New York, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the US had made a “serious misjudgment” in accusing Beijing of attempting to usurp Washington’s position and seeking global dominance. Wang warned that Washington’s suspicions could harm US interests in the future.