FBI director blasts Chinese government as 'greatest long-term threat' to US economy
FBI Director Christopher Wray unloaded on the Chinese government and the country’s Communist Party during a speech on Tuesday, claiming that the country’s counterintelligence and economic espionage programs were the “greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property, and to our economic vitality.”
The speech, given at a think tank in Washington, D.C., and made public by the agency, portrayed the Chinese government as a threat to all Americans, and to “our health, our livelihoods and our security.” Wray claimed that the FBI opens a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours, and that nearly half the agency’s 5,000 open cases were connected to the country.
“It’s the people of the United States who are the victims of what amounts to Chinese theft on a scale so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history.” he said. “If you are an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data.”
Wray accused China of attempting to “surpass America” through a broad series of campaigns that include theft of American intellectual property, hacking of corporate and personal data, and using bribery or blackmail to influence foreign officials. However, despite the dramatic claims made in his speech, the FBI director did not recommend that the U.S. cut ties with China. Instead, he pointed to the arrests that his agency has made in the past, saying that criminal indictments can persuade the Chinese government to change its behavior while most aspects of U.S.-China relations continue as usual.
“Confronting this threat effectively does not mean we shouldn’t do business with the Chinese,” he said. “It does not mean we shouldn’t host Chinese visitors. It does not mean we shouldn’t welcome Chinese students or coexist with China on the world stage.
“But it does mean that when China violates our criminal laws and international norms, we are not going to tolerate it, much less enable it.”
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