PulletSurprise Loc: Columbus, GA

DHS Highlights How Beijing Exploits P******c, Influences US E******n for Its Goals Eva Fu, The Epoch Times, October 8, 2020

The Chinese regime has leveraged the p******c crisis to boost its interests while carrying out its influence operations ahead of the U.S. e******ns, the latest report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found.

Oct. 6, the DHS identified Beijing as a state actor that posed a “significant threat.” Among a list of concerns from China were disinformation campaigns, diplomatic pressure, and counterfeit medical products exported to the United States.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded, in a statement, that the Chinese regime “prefers that President Trump–whom Beijing sees as unpredictable–does not win ree******n.”
Mark Grabowski, an associate professor on cyber law and digital ethics at Adelphi University, said the DHS report findings “shouldn’t be surprising.” China’s currency trading this week surged to a 17-month high after new data showed Biden leading the polls, he noted, citing media reports.

China’s e******n i**********e has been largely underreported and goes beyond what the DHS report has detailed, he told The Epoch Times. Furthermore, Beijing’s cyber tactics have become “much more nuanced and sophisticated in recent years than even many experts realize,” he said.

The “propaganda and disinformation getting posted is invariably either pro-Beijing or anti-Trump,” he said.

Beijing has carried out a “multifaceted campaign” to influence the U.S. political atmosphere, said Ted Carpenter, a senior fellow on defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute. For example, during the 2018 midterm e******n, Chinese state media placed ad inserts in American newspapers—part of a long-term strategy to subtly influence American v**er opinion in China’s favor, Carpenter said.

The DHS report signals a “healthy development”—“a new level of attention” on the Chinese threats that have largely “flown under the radar” in the past years, he said in an interview.

The Chinese regime views U.S. economic challenges, such as the downturn following the v***s health crisis, as a “key opportunity to create a dependency” on China and boost its influence, according to the report. Beijing also has think-tanks actively gauging which U.S. localities could be most susceptible to such exploitation.

The report noted how Beijing used sister city relationships to obtain critical health supplies from the United States when the C****-** outbreak first emerged in China.

In February, after the city of W***n was under lockdown as the world’s first and worst-hit v***s epicenter, a charity group in its sister city of Pittsburgh shipped over 450,000 surgical masks and 1,350 hazmat suits. Chinese media have touted the case as a model for sister city ties.

“Having a sister city is like having any other close friendship. You share each other’s triumphs and tragedies,” said Sarah Boal of Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation, the charity group that planned the shipment to China, in an interview with state media China Daily.

Several pro-Beijing local associations also established a GoFundMe account that raised more than $58,000 to supply W***n medical gear.

While C****-** may have paused plans to bring officials on all-expenses-paid trips to China, a tactic Beijing had used to gain favor from U.S. officials, the regime is using other enticements such as real estate investments and giving discounts on medical supplies, the DHS report said.

Beijing, along with the Kremlin, pose the top threats to U.S. supply chain security, officials found. The report also named China as a “particularly persistent source” for counterfeit medical products during the outbreak.

In cracking down on substandard Chinese medical goods, U.S. authorities have seized over 1 million unapproved testing kits and 750,000 defective masks shipped from China, according to the report.

A recent independent medical product evaluation also found up to 70 percent of the Chinese masks tested “significantly inferior” to the U.S. standard.

During the p******c, Beijing collected intelligence on U.S. supply chain weakness, hoping to leverage the provision of critical commodities as a condition to win U.S. concession on issues the regime deems critical, the report noted.

Dangers of over-reliance on China in the medical supply chain became apparent during the p******c, when Beijing hoarded large quantities of critical medical inventory from around the world despite a global shortage.

Radiance3

===================
The world must hold China accountable for the spread of the C****av***s. It could be proven, Fact is why has the UN not done anything about that? I would not rely at all at the UN. We spend billions of dollars supporting UN, and they are t*****rs, and useless.

I've communicated with the president, asking to sue China for the damages of the p******c C***d19 to our country. President Trump has announced yesterday we are going to proceed with that holding China accountable. I've suggested to forfeit the $1.1 trillion that US owes China. This was the US bond issues the China bought to invest. We could foreclose that as part of the damages. And the go further to require more damages they've done to our more than 209,000 lives lost, and destruction of our economy. The sufferings of our people due to these C****av***s, and lose of jobs.

PulletSurprise Loc: Columbus, GA

I'm congruent with you! Democrat Progressives are playing with fire; falsely accusing Russia while kissing C*******t China!