On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a lecture at Texas A&M in which he warned of the danger China posed to American security.
As Wray put it, "hostile nations will become even more aggressive in their efforts to steal our secrets and our creativity, target our key infrastructure, interfere with our democratic institutions, and export their repression to our borders."
"China is at the forefront of that widened threat," he said. For the sake of becoming a world superpower and reshaping the international order to suit their authoritarian vision, the current Chinese leadership would "spare no effort" in stealing what they can't generate and silencing the words they don't want to hear, as stated by the author.
Wray emphasized the comprehensive nature of Chinese espionage operations, pointing out how the Chinese government use sophisticated methods and seemingly unrelated organizations to obtain sensitive information from the United States.
He went on to say that as a result of all this stealing, the United States had lost its "leadership in vital industries," costing thousands of jobs and squandering many opportunities. Wray continued by mentioning Beijing's recent efforts to target dissidents abroad, specifically the case of a Chinese-American student at an Indiana university who, after posting materials in support of the Tiananmen Square protesters, was threatened by Chinese officials back home and met with outrage from Chinese students on his campus.
TikTok, a social media platform owned by the Chinese government, has been identified by Wray as a significant threat to American cyber security.
"I think my argument is that just to tie it all up, [TikTok] is a major national security issue for the country of a kind that we didn't face in the past," he stated back in March.
New dangers are emerging, he said, particularly from Russia and Iran. He gave the example of Moscow conducting intelligence operations via cyber activities like trolling and hacking against vital U.S. infrastructure as an example of the former.
He specifically mentioned Iran, and the Iranian regime's recent efforts to target former U.S. national security officials, including the hit that Tehran recently issued on former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
As Wray put it, "hostile nations will become even more aggressive in their efforts to steal our secrets and our creativity, target our key infrastructure, interfere with our democratic institutions, and export their repression to our borders."
"China is at the forefront of that widened threat," he said. For the sake of becoming a world superpower and reshaping the international order to suit their authoritarian vision, the current Chinese leadership would "spare no effort" in stealing what they can't generate and silencing the words they don't want to hear, as stated by the author.
Wray emphasized the comprehensive nature of Chinese espionage operations, pointing out how the Chinese government use sophisticated methods and seemingly unrelated organizations to obtain sensitive information from the United States.
He went on to say that as a result of all this stealing, the United States had lost its "leadership in vital industries," costing thousands of jobs and squandering many opportunities. Wray continued by mentioning Beijing's recent efforts to target dissidents abroad, specifically the case of a Chinese-American student at an Indiana university who, after posting materials in support of the Tiananmen Square protesters, was threatened by Chinese officials back home and met with outrage from Chinese students on his campus.
TikTok, a social media platform owned by the Chinese government, has been identified by Wray as a significant threat to American cyber security.
"I think my argument is that just to tie it all up, [TikTok] is a major national security issue for the country of a kind that we didn't face in the past," he stated back in March.
New dangers are emerging, he said, particularly from Russia and Iran. He gave the example of Moscow conducting intelligence operations via cyber activities like trolling and hacking against vital U.S. infrastructure as an example of the former.
He specifically mentioned Iran, and the Iranian regime's recent efforts to target former U.S. national security officials, including the hit that Tehran recently issued on former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
