Washington, Apr 15 (EFE) .- The US FBI has more than 2,000 open investigations related to the Chinese government and opens a new one “every 10 hours,” according to the director of that institution explained to the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
In his testimony, reproduced by CNN on Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that no other country posed a greater threat to the economic security and democratic ideals of the United States than China, adding that its ability to influence America’s institutions is “deep, broad, and persistent.”
Wray’s comments come amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing on several fronts, including alleged human rights abuses in China’s western Xinjiang region and problems related to the situation in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns spoke with Wray at the Senate hearing Wednesday, in what constitutes the leaders’ first group public testimony. of intelligence before the US Congress since 2019, according to the US network.
The appearance comes less than a week after US intelligence published its Annual Threat Assessment, in which it warned that the governments of China and Russia were aiming to use the Covid-19 pandemic to increase their global influence. .
The report said Beijing had been “stepping up efforts to shape the political environment” in the United States, to try to assert its influence and stifle criticism of its own policies, including the crackdown on civil liberties in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In addition, Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Chinese government had “substantial” cyber capabilities that “if implemented, can at the very least cause temporary localized disruptions to critical infrastructure within the United States.”
In July 2020, the US government indicted two suspected Chinese hackers who authorities said had participated in a “global campaign of widespread computer intrusion”, which included attempting to access the US coronavirus investigation. and attack human rights activists, says the chain. EFE
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K: POL: POLITICA POL: POLITICA, EXTERIOR
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04/15/06-02/21
