CIA campaign proves China’s necessity for counter-espionage drive

A Reuters report on the US’ covert influence operations against China and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief’s pledge of more China-targeted resources corroborated each other and again demonstrated the US’ continuous disinformation campaign and cognitive warfare against China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Friday.

Reuters revealed in an exclusive report on Thursday that then US president Donald Trump authorized the CIA in 2019 to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former US officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation.

CIA chief William Burns wrote in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine in February that the CIA has “committed substantially more resources toward China-related intelligence collection, operations, and analysis around the world.”

It has once again shown that the US has spread China-related disinformation in an organized and well-planned way for a long time and it’s America’s important approach to wage a battle of perception against China, the spokesperson said.

Wang stressed that concocting and spreading rumors will only get one lose credibility faster. Spreading disinformation cannot inhibit China’s progress but will only discredit the US.

Experts said that the revelation surprises no one, as infiltration and color revolution have long been the US’ methods of choice.

The revelation again demonstrated the necessity and urgency of China’s enhanced counterespionage efforts in recent years and underlined the importance of raising public awareness and cautiousness against infiltration attempts, they said.