FBI chief Wray 'blown away' by scale of Chinese espionage in US to steal American tech

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said that Chinese spying in US has become so widespre that FBI is launching an average of two counterintelligence investigations a day to counter activity. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Wray, who has become US government most outspoken critic of Beijing’s spying, said that when he became FBI Director in 2017, he was “blown away” by scale of Chinese efforts to steal US technology. He said that bureau is opening a new Chinese-related counterintelligence investigation on average every 12 hours, with more than 2,000 such cases currently underway. 

“This one blew me away. And I’m not kind of guy that uses words like ‘blown away’ easily," Christopher Wray said. 

"re is no country that presents a broer, more severe threat to our innovation, our ideas and our economic security than China does,” he ded. 

Furr, FBI chief went on to say that or countries sometimes steal technology by planting spies inside a company. But or cases involve ft committed remotely through computer intrusions, he ded. Wray said that China has no equal when it comes to second method. " scale of ir hacking programme, and amount of personal and corporate data that ir hackers have stolen, is greater than every or country combined," Wray told media outlet.

FBI accuses China of stealing US ideas and innovations

Meanwhile, latest criticism against Beijing comes after Wray on Monday warned that China’s economic espionage has reached a new level, “more brazen, more damaging than ever before”. Wray stated that Chinese government is stealing American ideas, innovations and launching massive hacking operations. He was giving a speech at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library where he highlighted that as American foreign policy remains consumed by Russia-Ukraine tensions, country continues to regard Chinese government as its biggest threat to long-term economic security.

Wray accused Chinese spies of targetting a wide range of US innovations, including COVID-19 vaccines, computer chips, nuclear power plants, wind turbines and smartphones. Moreover, previously, Wray h even accused China of using pressure tactics to block criticism from dissidents and members of immigrant community in US, which he said amounts to Chinese officials exporting ir oppressive tactics. 

(Image: AP)