lørdag 5. desember 2020

China the 'greatest threat to democracy and freedom', US spy chief warns

The top US intelligence official has stepped up Donald Trump’s attacks on Beijing, labeling China the biggest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since the second world war and saying it was bent on global domination. “The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,” John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, said in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal.

Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman appointed by Trump to the top US spy job last spring, said China posed “the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since world war two”. Ratcliffe said China’s economic espionage approach was threefold: “Rob, replicate and replace.” He said the strategy was for Chinese entities to steal American companies’ intellectual property, copy it and then supplant US companies in the global market place.