China The World’s “Greatest Threat To Democracy And Freedom”: US

A senior ranking U.S. official in the nation’s intelligence community has called China the “greatest threat to democracy and freedom” since 1945.

In a Wall St Journal piece, The Director of U.S. National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe said Beijing was increasing its influence and power by stealing U.S. secrets – at the same time referring to China wanting to rule the world “economically, militarily and technologically.”

As such, Mr. Ratcliffe said the U.S. intelligence services were now focusing more on Chinese operatives than Russian intelligence gathering agents.

Mr. Ratcliffe described the modus operandi employed by Beijing as economic espionage in nature, intended to “rob, replicate and replace” existing structures.

His comments came a day after Hua Chunying, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the U.S. was “launching various political oppressive campaigns against China”, adding that (China) hopes (the U.S.) “(will) stop regarding everyone as spies.”

Without direct reference to much publicized claims by some media outlets in Asia in recent weeks that China had employed ‘microwave-style‘ weapons on the border with India, Mr. Ratcliffe also said that China had used humans as guinea pigs in weapons testing as the nation moves towards producing soldiers with “biologically enhanced capabilities”, adding that Beijing under President Xi Jinping is of the mindset that “a global order without (China) at the top is a historical aberration.”

Lisa Conklin

Lisa is an Eastender from London in her second year in Taipei where she teaches English, and in her spare time writes poetry. She is a practicing vegan and lover of yoga who lives 'off-grid' as much as possible. She is our weekend editor.