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The administration of US President Donald Trump accuses China of trying to undermine it by targeting the American political system.
"China wants a different US president," Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday in a speech. He accused Beijing of "interfering in American democracy" by using power in a more proactive and coercive way.
Pence accused the Chinese Communist Party of "rewarding or coercing American companies, film studios, universities, think tanks, academics, journalists, and local, provincial, and federal officials." Worse, China has launched an unprecedented effort to influence the American public, the 2018 elections and the environment leading up to the 2020 presidential elections. "
The vice president said that a senior member of the US intelligence community recently told him: "What the Russians are doing is far below what China is doing in this country."
China retaliated Friday, dismissing Pence's claims as "unjustified" and "ridiculous". According to the Agence France-Presse, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that Mr. Pence "has made unjustified accusations against China's domestic and foreign policy and slandered China by claiming that that China was interfering in the internal affairs of the United States. " She said Pence "created something out of nothing".
The remarks came a week after Trump accused the Chinese government of attempting to interfere in the mid-term US elections next month, and said Pence would divulge the details of his plans. speech.
Mr. Pence of the Hudson Institute in Washington stated that some of the information he quoted was from intelligence assessments and some of it was publicly available.
Addressing reporters later on Thursday at the White House, National Security Adviser John Bolton said that Mr. Pence's remarks were based on "previously classified and unclassified information."
Bolton said "that much of what we know remains classified" and that because of current intelligence operations, as well as the protection of sources and methods, more can not be revealed for the time being.
"I have never seen anything comparable to the scope of Chinese activities," added Bolton. "It's a very serious problem."
Citing reports from the US intelligence community, Pence said the Chinese were targeting governments and state and local officials in the US in an effort to exploit political differences between the federal and local levels.
According to Pence, the Chinese government issued a sensitive "Notice of Propaganda and Censorship" in June, according to which Beijing was to "strike precisely, separating different national groups" in the United States.
To this end, Pence said "Beijing has mobilized secret actors, front-line groups and propaganda media to change Americans' perceptions of Chinese politics."
"The current administration is willing to call a cat a cat," said Yun Sun, co-director of East Asia's Stimson Center program.
She said that Pence's speech contained many facts and was exhaustive on issues for which China seeks to challenge or undermine US national interests. But she added that evidence put forward by the Trump administration, such as a supplement to the Chinese-published Des Moines newspaper and tariffs targeting Trump's election base, "could be a little meager to justify the Interfering in the US elections ".
Since Trump took office at the beginning of last year, his administration has increased pressure on Beijing, the latest to provide tariffs in excess of $ 250 billion on products for which the Chinese have retaliated. .
"And when it comes to influencing the mid-term negotiations, just look at Beijing's tariffs in response to ours," Pence said in his speech. "They specifically targeted industries and states that would play an important role in the 2018 elections. According to one estimate, over 80% of US counties targeted by China voted for President Trump and myself in 2016; . "
In short, the details
Other analysts also say that they would like Pence's remarks to be more precise.
"It was pretty enigmatic," said Rebeccah Heinrichs, a senior member of the Hudson Institute. "He pointed out that the [Chinese] the government does not like what this administration does and it has somehow left it there. I can infer that they are doing something specific to affect the elections and hurt the Republicans. "
Trump signed a decree last month authorizing sanctions against those involved in electoral interference.
"I hope to see other efforts of the United States to deter China and find real answers in order to try to save some of what the Chinese do," Heinrichs said. at VOA.
Pence also said in his speech that the Chinese were trying to project their military might further than ever before, noting that Chinese ships regularly patrolled controversial islands administered by Japan (known as Senkaku in Japanese and Japanese). Diaoyu in Chinese), as well as the deployment by Beijing Naval and anti-aircraft missiles installed at the top of an archipelago of military bases built on artificial islands.
"The Chinese aggression was highlighted this week when a Chinese naval vessel arrived within 45 meters of the USS Decatur while it was conducting navigation operations in the China Sea. southern, forcing our ship to maneuver quickly to avoid a collision, "said Pence. "We will not be intimidated and we will not withdraw."
Pence said Beijing was extending its line of life "to Maduro's corrupt and incompetent regime in Venezuela," promising billions of dollars in loans that can be repaid with oil.
According to the vice president, the Chinese "also have an impact on the politics of some nations by providing direct support to parties and candidates who promise to take into account China's strategic objectives."
Since last year, noted Pence, the Chinese Communist Party has convinced three Latin American countries to sever ties with Taipei and recognize Beijing.
In remarks that the Beijing government is likely to find particularly provocative, Pence called the actions of China a threat to the stability of the Taiwan Strait and said that Taiwan's adoption of democracy as opposed to single party on the continent "shows a better way for all Chinese people".
William Gallo of VOA contributed to this report.
