China is national security threat No. 1JOHN RATCLIFFE Chinese soldiers applauding during a military parade at the Zhurihe training base in China's northern Inner Mongolia region. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AN HOUR AGO DECEMBER 4, 2020 As Director of National Intelligence, I am entrusted with access to more intelligence than any member of the US government other than the president. I oversee the intelligence agencies, and my office produces the President’s Daily Brief detailing the threats facing the country. If I could communicate one thing to the American people from this unique vantage point, it is that the People’s Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since World War II. The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party. John Ratcliffe. I call its approach of economic espionage “rob, replicate and replace.” China robs US companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology, and then replaces the US firms in the global marketplace. Take Sinovel. In 2018 a federal jury found the Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer guilty of stealing trade secrets from American Superconductor. Penalties were imposed but the damage was done. The theft resulted in the U.S. company losing more than $US1 billion in shareholder value and cutting 700 jobs. Today Sinovel sells wind turbines worldwide as if it built a legitimate business through ingenuity and hard work rather than theft. The FBI frequently arrests Chinese nationals for stealing research-and-development secrets. Until the head of Harvard’s Chemistry Department was arrested earlier this year, China was allegedly paying him $US50,000 a month as part of a plan to attract top scientists and reward them for stealing information. The professor has pleaded not guilty to making false statements to US authorities. Three scientists were ousted in 2019 from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston over concerns about China’s theft of cancer research. The US government estimates that China’s intellectual-property theft costs America as much as $US500 billion a year, or between $US4,000 and $US6,000 per U.S. household. US and Chinese flags outside a hotel in Beijing. China also steals sensitive US defence technology to fuel President Xi Jinping’s aggressive plan to make China the world’s foremost military power. US intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities. There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing’s pursuit of power. China is also developing world-class capabilities in emerging technologies. Its intelligence services use their access to tech firms such as Huawei to enable malicious activities, including the introduction of vulnerabilities into software and equipment. Huawei and other Chinese firms deny this, but China’s efforts to dominate 5G telecommunications will only increase Beijing’s opportunities to collect intelligence, disrupt communications and threaten user privacy worldwide. I have personally told US allies that using such Chinese-owned technology will severely limit America’s ability to share vital intelligence with them. China already suppresses US web content that threatens the Communist Party’s ideological control, and it is developing offensive cyber capabilities against the US homeland. This year China engaged in a massive influence campaign that included targeting several dozen members of Congress and congressional aides. China's President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2017. Consider this scenario: A Chinese-owned manufacturing facility in the US employs several thousand Americans. One day, the plant’s union leader is approached by a representative of the Chinese firm. The businessman explains that the local congresswoman is taking a hard-line position on legislation that runs counter to Beijing’s interests — even though it has nothing to do with the industry the company is involved in — and says the union leader must urge her to shift positions or the plant and all its jobs will soon be gone. The union leader contacts his congresswoman and indicates that his members won’t support her re-election without a change in position. He tells himself he’s protecting his members, but in that moment he’s doing China’s bidding, and the congresswoman is being influenced by China, whether she realises it or not. China is trying to wage “war by other means” in its attempt to make Australia bow to its will, according to former defence head of China analysis Paul Monk. Our intelligence shows that Beijing regularly directs this type of influence operation in the US. I briefed the House and Senate Intelligence committees that China is targeting members of Congress with six times the frequency of Russia and 12 times the frequency of Iran. To address these threats and more, I have shifted resources inside the $US85 billion annual intelligence budget to increase the focus on China. This shift must continue to ensure US intelligence has the resources it needs to give policy makers unvarnished insights into China’s intentions and activities. Within intelligence agencies, a healthy debate and shift in thinking is already under way. For the talented intelligence analysts and operators who came up during the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Russia have always been the focus. For others who rose through the ranks at the turn of this century, counter-terrorism has been top of mind. But today we must look with clear eyes at the facts in front of us, which make plain that China should be America’s primary national security focus going forward. Military troops march during a welcoming ceremony for US President Donald Trump in Beijing in 2017. Other nations must understand this is true for them as well. The world is being presented a choice between two wholly incompatible ideologies. China’s leaders seek to subordinate the rights of the individual to the will of the Communist Party. They exert government control over companies and subvert the privacy and freedom of their citizens with an authoritarian surveillance state. We shouldn’t assume that Beijing’s efforts to drag the world back into the dark will fail just because the forces of good have triumphed before in modern times. China believes that a global order without it at the top is a historical aberration. It aims to change that and reverse the spread of liberty around the world. If the world takes a backward step to China now, "we will rue the day for decades to come," says Sky News host Chris Kenny. Beijing is preparing for an open-ended period of confrontation with the US Washington should also be prepared. Leaders must work across partisan divides to understand the threat, speak about it openly, and take action to address it. This is our once-in-a-generation challenge. Americans have always risen to the moment, from defeating the scourge of fascism to bringing down the Iron Curtain. This generation will be judged by its response to China’s effort to reshape the world in its own image and replace America as the dominant superpower. The intelligence is clear. Our response must be as well. Mr Ratcliffe is US director of national intelligence. The Wall Street Journal
Not meaning to sound like a Chinese apologist, but who is China’s greatest rival? Russia’s greatest rival? Iran’s greatest threat? The point is until we start looking through the eyes of other foreign leaders, trying to see things from their point of view, we are going to continue making policy missteps. The same principle applies to them. With both sides making missteps, becoming more polarized, and with ever increasing military capability, it seems inevitable an event, quite possibly unanticipated, could trigger actions that are not easily undone. Yes, Russia and China have been stealing US intellectual property(IP) for many decades. They have been warned, but they continue. Unless we are prepared to go to war over this, and commit to continuing in said war well beyond the value of IP stolen, other property destroyed, and lives lost, we need to focus on other policies. Quite frankly, I doubt the Western Powers have the political or society will to sincerely “Stand up” to China, Russia, or Iran. I say “or”, but in all likelihood, a millitary conflict with China would involve Russia, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, and Syria, along with possible surprise allies for the Eastern powers. China and it’s allies have the full capability to bring the fight onto our territories through special forces and partisan activities. The US mainland is extremely vulnerable at many points in many areas to terrorist attacks. While it’s true our distribution system is somewhat hardened, this “hardening” is often bypassed or is easily bypassed as a matter of convenience. IP theft will have to be dealt with in other ways. Since we know it is going to continue, we must look to strengthen detection, creatively creating honeypots, and increasing penalties of IP theft. Further, in order to effectively enforce penalties, we need to make sure our allies are on board with our policies as well. Diplomacy matters in the defense of national interests. Indirectly, increasing our prepardness will help allow us to defend our interests. For example, our commercial vehicles, cross platform compatibility, and electrical systems are in the Stone Age in an increasingly electrified world. Part of the reasons for this is proprietory design for parts along with single platform compatibility is more profitable for the manufacturer and our political system is decentralized, unfocused, and seemingly oblivious to fundamental ways monitor and adjust our prepardness. Specifically, the majority of our vehicle electric systems are still 12 volt DC based. We can safety move to 36 volt DC systems, allowing for higher charging voltages, before arcing in air becomes a problem, usually considered to be at 50 volts DC. This higher voltage capability will increase energy efficiency through lower losses such as being able to utilize smaller and lighter wires or increasing total power generated with a single alternator, a great benefit for Hybrid electric vehicles or commercial vehicles for the ability to run electric tools such external compressors, pumps, and the like. Cross platform compatibility between various modes of transportation according to a size class will help ensure parts availability in a crisis as well as encouraging stocking of parts by a third party. For example, there is no reason, from a prepardness standpoint, that headlights, tires, many electronic devices, fasteners, engines, engine accessories such as alternators, starters, water pumps, etc., shouldn’t be the same for a car, a truck, a boat, are even in some cases, a plane of a given size class. Cross platform compatibility could even extend to motorcycles, and certain types of lawn equipment. Our nation’s electric grid offers great reliability but is very vulnerable to natural and manmade hazards involving EMP and vulnerability of centrallized transformers. Further, 110 volt household current is limiting as the age of electric vehicles approach. Fortunately, we can double or even quadruple the voltage going to our homes without rewiring. Sure, transformers would need to be changed and electrocution hazards increase. We could also consider dismantling the grid and focus on generating power on a local basis for lower large scale risks. Further, commercial vehicles should have strong EMP protection. We could also look for ways to quickly militarize our vast fleets of commercial vehicles, private aircraft, private boats and yachts should it become necessary. Adopting the metric system and application of intelligent use of fasteners will increase the productivity of mechanics repairing vehicles, especially during critical times of crisis and will aid the compatibility of parts across allied countries. Requiring advanced prepardness training in our schools will increase our defense and preparedness capabilities on a fundamental basis. Instead of saying “Bad Chinese” and complaining, we need to act like responsible adults, recognize reality, and take appropriate action that does not unnessarily risk outselves getting blown up.
China? I thought it was obviously the Donald: Trump Promises To Defund The Entire Military, If Congress Won't Let Him Punish The Internet For Being Mean To Him https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...t-him-punish-internet-being-mean-to-him.shtml
I am SURE this is not the first time that they realize China is a threat. The question is WHY did we wait until now when the situation is now getting out of hand to do something about it when the United States is facing threats posed not just by China, but North Korea, and Iran?
Wow! Countries that do such thing are bad, so China must be bad! I wonder what we Americans do or rather not do, that China does. Wasn't the US (and Germany) very recently busted by the Swiss government for installing listening backdoors in Swiss made data equipment sold worldwide via so called legitimate vendors? Didn't we oust democratically elected governments because they threatened our corporations in the 50s, the 60s and even the 80s? Or is this all ok when we do it, because we represent freedom, democracy, individual rights and America First but not ok when those mofo communists replicate what we did for a century? I'm not saying China isn't a threat, they will some day test our willingness to fight them over rocks in the sea and we should be ready, but I am saying we're probably the world's most hypocrite nation and thanks to Trump, now everyone knows.
American are acting like a idiot, i think they are at war with the world ... In future No body will like you when you say i'm an American