Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray has said that acts of espionage and theft by China's government pose the "greatest long-term threat" to the future of the US.
Speaking to the Hudson Institute in Washington, Wray described a multi-pronged disruption campaign. the BBC reported on Wednesday.
He said China had begun targeting Chinese nationals living abroad, coercing their return, and was working to compromise US coronavirus research.
"The stakes could not be higher," Wray said, adding: "China is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the world's only superpower by any means necessary," he added.
In a nearly hour-long speech on Tuesday, the FBI Director outlined a stark picture of Chinese interference, a far-reaching campaign of economic espionage, data and monetary theft and illegal political activities, using bribery and blackmail to influence US policy.
"We've now reached a point where the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours," Wray said. "Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently underway across the country, almost half are related to China."
He said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had spearheaded a programme called "Fox Hunt", geared at Chinese nationals living abroad seen as threats to the Chinese government.
"We're talking about political rivals, dissidents, and critics seeking to expose China's extensive human rights violations," he said. "The Chinese government wants to force them to return to China, and China's tactics to accomplish that are shocking."
US, China impose visa curbs on each other
The US has announced new visa bans on senior Chinese officials involved in restricting access to foreigners to the sensitive region of Tibet and reaffirmed its support for "meaningful autonomy" for Tibetans, opening another point of friction amid tense relations between Washington and Beijing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was taking action against an unspecified number of Chinese officials, including from the ruling Communist Party, under a US law that calls on China to let Americans visit Tibet.
"Today I announced visa restrictions on PRC (Peoples Republic of China) officials involved in restricting foreigners' access to Tibet. We will continue to seek reciprocity in our relationship," Pompeo tweeted on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, China has imposed visa restrictions on US personnel "with egregious behavior on Tibet," CGTN reported.
This comes in response to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement of visa restrictions on some Chinese officials under the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, 2018.
"In response to the wrong actions of the US side, China has decided to introduce visa restrictions on US personnel who behaved badly on Tibet related issues," Zhao Lijiang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, was quoted by the Sputnik as saying.
