China greatest threat to America & the free world since World War II, says US intel chief

US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Thursday said that China poses the greatest threat to America and the rest of the free world since World War II. "The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically," Ratcliffe wrote in an op-ed published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal. 

'Rob, replicate and replace'

Many of China's major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party, he said. "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," he said.

In a bid to counter the security threat posed by China, the US intelligence community is shifting resources - to the tune of USD 85 billion, besides embarking on a culture shift with previous generations, he said. 

A State Department official said in a statement to CNN on Thursday that "This is in keeping with our ongoing policy, regulatory, and law-enforcement action across the US Government to protect our nation from the CCP's malign influence." The state department official further alleged that CCP "sends agents to the United States to unabashedly monitor, threaten, and report on Chinese nationals and Chinese-American groups engaging in legal, honest, and open activities that are protected under freedom of speech and freedom of assembly clauses."

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Trump's anti-China rhetoric

This move is among the series of actions taken by the Trump administration, setting a tone for the US President-elect Joe Biden's upcoming term. 

Trump administration officials have been stepping up their anti-China rhetoric for months, especially during the presidential campaign as President Donald Trump sought to deflect blame for the spread of the Coronavirus. During the presidential election campaign, Trump warned that Biden would go easy on China, although the president-elect agrees that China is not abiding by international trade rules, is giving unfair subsidies to Chinese companies and stealing American innovation.

Biden has announced that he wants the Senate to confirm Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, to succeed Ratcliffe as the next National Intelligence Director.

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(With agency inputs)