The director of FBI, Christopher Wray, in an hour-long speech for the Hudson Institute in Washington, outlined a multi-pronged disruption campaign by China.
The speech involved talking about Chinese interference in the US via an economic espionage campaign, data and monetary theft and illegal political activities where China allegedly uses bribery and blackmail to influence US policy.
Wray referred to these acts of Chinese espionage and theft as the “greatest long-term threat” to the future of the US.
The FBI director said, “China is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the world’s only superpower by any means necessary”.
He stated that China was targeting Chinese nationals living abroad under a programme called “Fox Hunt” which is geared at forcing Chinese nationals living abroad to return to China if they are seen as a threat to the Chinese government.
He further added, “We’ve now reached a point where the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours,” and that “Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently underway across the country, almost half are related to China.
Wray also stated that China was compromising US coronavirus research.