CIA: China conducts a "kind of cold war" against the United States

ASPEN, Colorado – China is leading a "kind of cold war" against the United States, using all its resources to try to replace America as the world's largest power, said Friday a CIA expert in Asia. Beijing does not want to go to war, but the current communist government, led by President Xi Jingping, is working subtly on several fronts to undermine the United States in a different way from the more publicized activities.

"I would say … what they lead against us is fundamentally a cold war – a cold war not as we have seen during the Cold War (between the United States and the United States). 39 Soviet Union) but a cold war By definition, Michael Collins, deputy badistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado

The tension between the United States and China go beyond the trade conflict between the two nations.

The Chinese military is developing and modernizing, and the United States, as well as other countries, has complained about construction by China of military outposts on the islands of China. "I would argue that it is East Crimea," said Collins, referring to the brutal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, which has been condemned throughout the West

Collins comments on warnings China's growing influence emitted by others who spoke earlier this week at the security conference. The alarm bell comes at a time when Washington needs the help of China to end its nuclear stalemate with North Korea.

Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said on Wednesday that China is the biggest threat. He said the FBI had economic espionage investigations in the 50 states that can be traced back to China.

"The volume of it, the omnipresence of it.The significance of this is something that I think this country can not underestimate," Wray said.

The director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, also warned against the rise of Chinese aggression. In particular, he said, the United States must stand firm against China's efforts to steal business secrets and academic research.

Susan Thornton, Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, said: Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students or groups in American universities could be a way to help alleviate potential damage.

"China is not just a footnote of what we are dealing with Russia., Former under-secretary of defense intelligence, said China possessed the second-largest the world's defense budget, the largest land army, the third air force and a navy of 300 ships and more than 60 submarines

. "All this is being modernized and improved," said Letter, who sat on a panel with Collins and Thornton.

He said that China was also pursuing advances in artificial cyber intelligence., engineering and technology, counter-space, Anti-satellite capabilities and hypersonic weapons Army Lieutenant-General Robert Ashley, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a congressional committee that China was developing long-range cruise missiles, some able to reach supersonic speeds

. Franklin Miller, former senior director of defense policy and arms control at the National Security Council, said that China's arms developments put the emphasis on "We must try to engage, "said Miller. "My expectations for a successful engagement are medium to low, but that does not mean we should not try."