Beijing considers Donald Trump ‘unpredictable’, US intelligence official says (File)
Washington:
China has redoubled its efforts to influence the US presidential election in November and wants President Donald Trump to lose because it considers him “unpredictable,” a senior US intelligence official said on Friday.
“We believe that China prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing considers unpredictable – not to be re-elected,” said William Evanina, director of the National Center for Counterintelligence and Security.
“China expanded its influencing efforts before November 2020 to shape the political environment in the United States, to pressure politicians it sees as opposed to China’s interests, and to deflect and counter criticism of the China, “Evanina said in a statement.
He highlighted China’s criticism of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the US closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston and the US administration’s positions on Chinese actions in Hong Kong and the South China Sea. .
“Beijing recognizes that all of these efforts could affect the presidential race,” Evanina said.
Evanina said Iran was using social media disinformation to divide the country and hurt Trump, while Russia meddled in harming the campaign of its Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
“Russia is using a series of measures primarily to denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it considers an ‘anti-Russian establishment’,” Evanina said.
“This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was vice president for his role in the Obama administration’s policy on Ukraine and his support for the anti-Putin opposition in Russia,” a- he declared.
Evanina, the senior intelligence official monitoring election threats, gave no details of outside interference.
A strong Russian hacking and social media campaign in 2016 is credited by U.S. intelligence services for helping Trump win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“Foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections are a direct threat to the fabric of our democracy,” he said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
