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[webfact]

Pence accuses China of 'malign' campaign to undermine Trump

By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivers a speech at the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) in Washington, U.S., August 24, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence intensified 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 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 accused China of trying to interfere in the vote that will determine whether his Republican Party will keep control of Congress.

 

Neither Trump nor Pence provided hard evidence of meddling by China, which last week rejected the president's allegation.

 

Pence's speech at Washington's Hudson Institute marked a sharpened U.S. approach toward China going beyond the bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. It highlighted disputes such as cyber attacks, Taiwan, freedom of the seas and human rights.

 

Pence said China was waging a sophisticated effort to sway the elections against the Republicans in retaliation for Trump's trade policies. He vowed to continue to expose Beijing's "malign influence and interference."

 

Pence said Beijing, with an eye not only to the congressional elections but also to Trump's 2020 re-election bid, 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.

 

"China wants a different American president," Pence said.

 

He said that in June, Beijing laid out its strategy in a sensitive "Propaganda and Censorship Notice" which stated that China must "strike accurately and carefully, splitting apart different domestic groups" in the United States.

 

The allegations, however, 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 Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and also set up China for blame if Republicans do poorly in November's vote.

 

China's embassy in Washington referred queries about Pence’s speech to an interview Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai gave to National Public Radio on Wednesday.

 

Cui said Beijing wanted to resolve the trade war through negotiations but that would required goodwill from both sides. U.S. goodwill was currently insufficient, Cui said.

 

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS

Washington has long cited China as a major culprit in the 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 email hacking Russia was accused of in 2016.

 

Even so, 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."

 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told the Washington Post this week there was no indication of any foreign effort to disrupt election infrastructure, but added that "we know they (China) have the capability and the will."

 

China expert Chris Johnson, a former CIA analyst now at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Pence's speech appeared aimed in part at building a narrative that a vote for the Democrats would be vote for China.

 

"Another part of it is trying to distract attention from the real threat, which is Russia," he said. "There's nothing in that speech that rises to the level of 2016 Russian active measures."

 

Trump has justified his trade policy by accusing China of stealing intellectual property and limiting access to its market. The two countries have imposed increasingly severe tariffs on each other.

 

Pence said Chinese security agencies had masterminded the "wholesale theft of American technology," including military blueprints, and warned Washington would continue to take action.

 

He urged Google <GOOGL.O> to end development of its "Dragonfly" app that would make it easier to track Internet searches and strengthen Chinese censorship.

 

Google declined comment, except to reiterate that its China search engine project was "exploratory" and not close to launch.

 

Bloomberg Businessweek cited 17 unidentified intelligence and company sources as saying that Chinese spies had placed computer chips in equipment used by about 30 firms, as well as multiple U.S. government agencies, which would give Beijing secret access to internal networks. Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and Amazon <AMZN.O> denied the report.

 

Pence also said China had deployed anti-ship and anti-air missiles on artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, despite promises not to militarize them.

 

He accused Beijing of "reckless harassment" in an incident on Sunday in which a Chinese naval vessel nearly collided with a U.S. destroyer near the Spratly islands.

 

"We will not be intimidated," Pence said of the operation, the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing’s efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.

 

China said a Chinese warship had been sent to warn the U.S. vessel to leave an area of irrefutable Chinese sovereignty.

 

Pence accused China of using its economic power to bully smaller countries and said it had threatened the stability of the Taiwan Strait by pressuring three Latin American countries to sever ties with Taipei and recognise Beijing.

 

Pence also denounced Beijing's crackdown on minority Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

 

Last month, a U.N. rights panel said it had received credible reports that up to one million ethnic Uighurs may be held in extra-legal detention in Xinjiang, which China says faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists.

 

U.S. officials have said they are considering targeted sanctions for human rights abuses.

 

Daniel Russel, Washington's top diplomat for East Asia until last year, said there was a lot to dislike about China’s behaviour. But he said the claim that China was working to defeat Trump at the ballot box "rings hollow" and the approach could be counterproductive.

 

"Even if you accept all of Pence’s complaints at face value, it’s hard to make the case that the administration’s Cold War-style vilification of China will be effective or beneficial to U.S. interests, since it's clearly pushing Beijing to intransigence, not compromise."

 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Christopher Bing, Paresh Dave and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-10-05

[Samui Bodoh]

"...Pence accuses China of 'malign' campaign to undermine Trump.."

 

Actually, Trump is quite a malignant influence on his own and does not need any outside assistance.

 

 

 

 

[Esso49]

First it was the Clinton campaigners,  then it was the Democrats within the House of Representatives, then it was deliberate fake news and now it's the Chinese apparently who want rid of Trump.

 

All I can say is that apart from those in his own country and elsewhere in the West who want rid of him when 20% of the global population want rid of him then every picture tells a  story. Seems only the Russians are supporting him.

[simple1]

What did the Trump Administration expect with the tariffs imposition, a kiss on the cheek from China? US companies complied to technology transfer when they set up companies in PRC, no-one forced them to do business in China. 

 

PRC spies on the US, the US spies on China, what's new?

 

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-china-found-cia-spies-leak-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=T

[Credo]

God, I am sick of Trump.   I wish we could return to having a President who was not the focus of everything.   China undermining, maligning the US, I care.   Maligning Trump, I don't care.

 

Can he not accept responsibility for anything?   Does he have a persecution complex?

[mamypoko]

Who would Jesus malign?

[alanrchase]

No evidence offered. Where are the Trump supporters with their cry of "innocent until proven guilty"?

[Tug]

My antenna are up on this one not that the Chinese will interfere in the election but what trump does when he loses the house and hopefully the senate as well he may well try to nullify the election on this pretense 

[farcanell]

Once again the WH seems not to believe the states security apparatus, with Homeland saying ... “What?”... (or similar)

 

maybe the homeland director should be fired for failing the WH, in missing all this meddling

 

Anyway.... a long article.... at one one point I forgot which country the article was about...(????????????) ... reckless harassment, intimidation, using economic might to bully smaller economies and creating instability.... what’s trump done now, I asked myself

 

then “Pence said”.... so I laughed

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, simple1 said:

What did the Trump Administration expect with the tariffs imposition, a kiss on the cheek from China? US companies complied to technology transfer when they set up companies in PRC, no-one forced them to do business in China. 

 

PRC spies on the US, the US spies on China, what's new?

 

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-china-found-cia-spies-leak-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=T

China's military also implant hardware (chips) in computer boards. That is a new twist.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

[farcanell]

4 hours ago, mamypoko said:

Who would Jesus malign?

Beezlebub maybe

 

what, with him being a former president, and all.... oops... sorry, I meant to say a former god, and all

 

and I seem to remember a story about him spinning out on the local priests and street vendors.... very uncool dude

 

And then there’s the pedo priests.... now what would Jesus say about them (esp given his reaction to street vendors at a temple)?

Edited October 5, 2018 by farcanell

[than]

 

Trump does not need China to compromise the mid-term election. He does it very well himself

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

China's military also implant hardware (chips) in computer boards. That is a new twist.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

Problem solved on behalf of the Chinese.

Under the deal for ZTE to resume operations, it will also hire American compliance officers to monitor its operations according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Once ZTE complies, the Commerce Department will lift an order under which the company had been cut off from U.S. suppliers including Qualcomm Inc., effectively shutting down its business.

• “Yes they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal … for #ZTE & China,” Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican
• Schumer said that “both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.”

http://fortune.com/2018/05/26/zte-fine-donald-trump-china/

[simple1]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

China's military also implant hardware (chips) in computer boards. That is a new twist.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

Yes, I read about this matter. Western countries use submarines to tap into undersea comms cables and other activities, so one has to assume other methods are utilised. We know Western countries also interdict all manner of comms, including mobile phones of friendly country leaders, must be other stuff still in the ultra secret domain. 

[Srikcir]

6 minutes ago, simple1 said:

must be other stuff still in the ultra secret domain. 

Some of it exposed.

the NSA has planted backdoors to access computers, hard drives, routers, and other devices from companies such as Cisco, Dell, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Samsung, and Huawei.

https://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-reportedly-planted-spyware-on-electronics-equipment/

[vinegarbase]

4 hours ago, alanrchase said:

"innocent until proven guilty"?

 

You can't be that stupid. The Chinese are innocent? Why don't you take a stroll over the DOJ website and on the homepage type in "Chinese" and see the long list of Chinese nationals sentenced to prison for espionage in the USA.

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

Yes, I read about this matter. Western countries use submarines to tap into undersea comms cables and other activities, so one has to assume other methods are utilised. We know Western countries also interdict all manner of comms, including mobile phones of friendly country leaders, must be other stuff still in the ultra secret domain. 

Sure, but NSA or any Western country are harmless compared to a totalitarian state like China.

In some way the Western system is trying to defend your right to criticize them, while comparing Xi to Winnie the Pooh could land you in trouble.

My vote is for the Western system, with all its flaws.

[candide]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

Some of it exposed.

the NSA has planted backdoors to access computers, hard drives, routers, and other devices from companies such as Cisco, Dell, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Samsung, and Huawei.

https://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-reportedly-planted-spyware-on-electronics-equipment/

And in particular Cisco routers intalled in China's core network.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/internet-privacy/snowden--the-nsa-planted-backdoors-in-cisco-products.html

[candide]

1 hour ago, vinegarbase said:

 

You can't be that stupid. The Chinese are innocent? Why don't you take a stroll over the DOJ website and on the homepage type in "Chinese" and see the long list of Chinese nationals sentenced to prison for espionage in the USA.

Another confusion. This is not about espionage, everybody knows the Chinese spy (just as the USA). The unproven and very convenient accusation is about Chinese campaigning against Trump in the US. No other proof than Trump's word.

[simple1]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

<SNIP>

My vote is for the Western system, with all its flaws.

No argument from me.

[Dap]

  This may completely elude Pence, but one would think that China would be doing all that they can to keep this buffoon and his clowns right where they are.

[Redline]

6 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Some of it exposed.

the NSA has planted backdoors to access computers, hard drives, routers, and other devices from companies such as Cisco, Dell, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Samsung, and Huawei.

https://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-reportedly-planted-spyware-on-electronics-equipment/

That's why there will likely be a separation in supply chains sometime in the near future~applicable to both sides of the coin

Edited October 5, 2018 by Redline