‘What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,’ says Pence as he accuses Communists of trying to defeat Trump
Mike Pence makes provocative speech in Washington D.C. attacking China and alleging it is trying to defeat the Republicans
‘What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,’ he told the Hoover Institute
Speech was written before allegations Chinese spies had inserted tiny chips in servers used in American technology companies including Apple
Pence’s charge is latest attempt to attack China by Trump’s administration
DAILYMAIL.COM
4 October 2018
Vice President Mike Pence escalated Washington’s pressure campaign against Beijing on Thursday by accusing China of ‘malign’ efforts to undermine President Donald Trump ahead of next month’s congressional elections and of reckless military actions in the South China Sea.
In what was billed as a major policy address, Pence sought to build on Trump´s speech at the United Nations last week in which he alleged that China was attempting to interfere in the pivotal Nov. 6 midterm elections. Neither Trump nor Pence provided hard evidence of Chinese meddling.
Pence’s speech at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington marked a sharpened U.S. approach toward China that goes beyond the bitter trade war between the world´s two biggest economies and includes disputes such as cyber activities, Taiwan and freedom of the seas.
Pence alleged that China was waging a sophisticated influence campaign aimed at swaying the Nov. 6 elections against Trump’s Republican Party in retaliation for his trade policies against Beijing.
‘China is meddling in America’s democracy,’ Pence said, calling it a ‘a comprehensive and coordinated campaign to undermine support for the president, our agenda and our nation´s most cherished ideals.
He said Beijing had ‘mobilized covert actors, front groups, and propaganda outlets to shift Americans’ perception of Chinese policies’ and was targeting its tariffs to hurt states where Trump has strong support.
The allegations have raised questions as to whether Trump and his aides are trying to deflect attention from an investigation of his campaign’s possible ties to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and also set up China for the blame if Republicans do poorly in election. The vote will determine whether they keep control of Congress.
Washington has long identified China as a major culprit in the cyber hacking of U.S. government and corporate databases but U.S. officials and independent analysts say they have not detected the kind of systematic manipulation of social media and hacking of emails that Russia is alleged to have engaged in during the 2016 election, which Trump won.
Despite that, Pence said: ‘As a senior career member of our intelligence community recently told me, what the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country.’
Trump has justified his tough trade policy against Beijing with accusations that China steals U.S. intellectual property, limits access to its own market and unfairly subsidize state-owned companies. The two countries have imposed increasingly severe rounds of tariffs on each other.
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