FBI Director Christopher Wray made a startling claim Wednesday at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on global threats, CNN reported Thursday. He said the department would launch a new investigation into China “every 10 hours.”
“We have a new investigation into China every 10 hours, and I can assure the committee that it’s not because our people have nothing to do during working hours,” Ray told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We now have more than 2000 investigations related to the Chinese government. ”
“I don’t think any country poses a more serious threat to our innovative, economic security, and democratic ideas than China,” the FBI director declared. The tools in their toolbox that can influence our businesses, academic institutions, and all levels of government are profound, broad, and lasting. ”
He also again discredited China’s “fox hunt” to combat transnational crime and launch an international pursuit of stolen goods, claiming that China’s “uncoordinated illegal law enforcement activities” in the United States “show how challenging and diverse this particular threat is”.
On the other hand, CNN reported in another post that Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, also attacked China at the same hearing, calling it “an unprecedented priority for U.S. intelligence agencies.”
In particular, she warned that China has “enormous” cyber capabilities that “could, if deployed, cause at least partial and temporary damage to critical infrastructure in the United States”.
Haines also raised the issue of the source of the Coronavirus pandemic at the hearing. She claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies believe the virus may have come naturally after humans came into contact with infected animals, but it could have come from “laboratory accidents.”
Notably, Haines’s comments are in line with statements made by U.S. intelligence agencies about a year ago during the Trump administration. At the time, U.S. intelligence agencies were reluctant to abandon the so-called “Wuhan Lab Leak”, a political conspiracy theory that has long been refuted by mainstream scientific circles, in order to serve the political needs of the Trump administration to shirk responsibility for the new outbreak.
Moreover, senior U.S. intelligence officials in the Biden administration, including Mr. Haines, have said that China’s efforts with WHO to trace the virus are not fully transparent and disrupted. That’s in line with what the Trump administration says.
In other words, while the Biden administration acted “respectful of science” before taking office, rejecting Trump’s hype about “political conspiracy theories” in the pandemic, it was nothing more than a hypocritical political stunt.
In response to the smear attacks on China by the two senior U.S. government officials, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made it clear at a regular press conference on April 8th that the work of traceability had indeed been interfered with by political factors, but not from China, but from individual countries such as the United States.
Zhao lijian pointed out that they are determined to politicize the issue of tracing, undermine and interfere with China’s cooperation with WHO, attack China, and publicly challenge the independence of scientists and scientific research. This not only undermines global tracing cooperation, but also affects global efforts to fight the pandemic.
In response to the U.S. side’s smear of “Operation Fox Hunting”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has previously retorted that combating transnational crime and carrying out international pursuit of stolen goods is a just cause, widely recognized by the international community. China’s law enforcement agencies shall conduct foreign law enforcement cooperation in strict accordance with international law, fully respect foreign laws and judicial sovereignty, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects in accordance with the law. The U.S. side ignores the basic facts and has ulterior motives to discredit China’s pursuit of stolen goods, which China firmly opposes.
Wang wenbin said that we urge the U.S. side to correct its mistakes immediately, earnestly fulfill its obligations under international treaties such as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption, shoulder international responsibilities and not become a “crime haven” for criminals.
