US Intelligence Director: China Poses Gravest Threat to America, Free World

China poses the greatest threat to America and the rest of the free world since World War II, national intelligence director John Ratcliffe said Thursday.

“The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,” Ratcliffe wrote in an Op-Ed published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

“Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“I call its approach of economic espionage ‘rob, replicate and replace,'” Ratcliffe said. “China robs U.S. companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology and then replaces the U.S. firms in the global marketplace.”

The Trump administration has been stepping up pressure on China for months.

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It has imposed sanctions against Beijing over Taiwan, Tibet, trade, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

It has moved against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and sought restrictions on Chinese social media applications TikTok and WeChat.

China’s embassy in the U.S. did not respond to a request for comment on Ratcliffe’s Op-Ed.

Ratcliffe said he has shifted money within the $85 billion annual intelligence budget to address the threat from China.

Beijing’s preparations for a confrontation with the U.S. must be addressed, he said.

“This is our once-in-a-generation challenge. Americans have always risen to the moment, from defeating the scourge of fascism to bringing down the Iron Curtain,” Ratcliffe wrote.

“This generation will be judged by its response to China’s effort to reshape the world in its own image and replace America as the dominant superpower.”

He cited several examples of Chinese aggression against the United States, noting the theft of intellectual property from American businesses and universities.

Ratcliffe and other U.S. officials have said that China has stolen sensitive U.S. defense technology to fuel President Xi Jinping’s aggressive military modernization plan, and they allege that Beijing uses its access to Chinese tech firms, such as Huawei, to collect intelligence, disrupt communications and threaten the privacy of users worldwide.

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Ratcliffe said he has personally briefed members of Congress about how China is attempting to influence legislation.

Presumptive president-elect Joe Biden has nominated Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, to succeed Ratcliffe as the next national intelligence director.

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