Pence mounts verbal assault on Beijing
• China accused of meddling to sway US midterm poll
Vice-President Mike Pence laid out allegations of Chinese election interference in a harshly worded speech on Thursday, signalling a firmer US pushback against Beijing as trade anxiety weighs on the looming midterm congressional elections.
Pence accused China of taking “a whole-of-government approach” to sway US public opinion, including spies, tariffs, coercive measures and a propaganda campaign. The speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington contained some of the most critical remarks about China by such a high-ranking US official in recent memory.
“There can be no doubt, China is meddling in America’s democracy. Beijing has mobilised covert actors, front groups and propaganda outlets to shift Americans’ perception of Chinese policy. As a senior career member of our intelligence community recently told me, what the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,” said Pence.
Pence’s speech is the latest sign of a deterioration in ties between the US and China, as the two nuclear powers tussle over everything from trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea. The disputes have fuelled concern in Beijing and Washington that US President Donald Trump’s trade fight could, if left unchecked, foster a new Cold War between the world’s two biggest economies.
Pence said China’s goal was “nothing less than to push the United States of America from the Western Pacific and attempt to prevent us from coming to the aid of our allies”.
He called on Google to cancel its “Dragonfly” project, an internet search engine for Chinese consumers that would filter out results objectionable to China’s government. The app would “strengthen the Communist Party’s censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers”, Pence said.
He spoke days after Trump accused China of attempting to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections.
The remarks underscore administration concern that anxiety over the trade battle could hurt Republican performance in the November 6 vote.
“Going into elections, Trump has got to look like a strong leader and it helps to have an enemy abroad — this is a truism of international relations,” said Rosita Dellios, an associate international relations professor at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia. “China would be illadvised not to pursue some level of influence through the media and other sources. But that’s normal. The Americans do it. The Russians do it.”
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, dismissed Trump’s claim at the UN General Assembly last week that China was meddling in the US midterm elections, calling the allegation “unwarranted”. Trump did not provide much evidence to back up the accusation, pointing to an advertisement the Chinese government took out in an Iowa newspaper attacking the president’s trade policies.
Trump appears to be gearing up for a protracted trade war, declaring earlier this week that “it’s too early to talk” with China. “Can’t talk now, because they’re not ready,” Trump said on Monday after announcing a new trade pact with Canada and Mexico at the White House.
China has responded to Trump’s decision to levy tariffs on $250bn of its exports with its own tariffs on US goods, including soybeans and other agricultural products. Pence singled out those retaliatory tariffs in his speech on Thursday.
The Chinese tariffs “specifically targeted industries and states that would play an important role in the 2018 election”, he said. “By one estimate, more than 80% of US counties targeted by China voted for President Trump and I in 2016; now China wants to turn these voters against our administration.”
While China does maintain global efforts to influence overseas Chinese and has been accused of several high-profile cyber raids on US computer systems, there has so far been no public evidence of the sort of influence operations the US has said Russia carried out in 2016. China’s strategic tariffs have been interpreted as an effort to support congressional opposition to Trump’s trade policies.
“We will continue to take action against Beijing until the theft of American intellectual property ends once and for all,” Pence said.
He also assailed China over its actions in the South China Sea — the US has criticised the Chinese for building military bases on reclaimed reefs.
Earlier this week, the US accused China’s navy of “unsafe and unprofessional” conduct near an occupied reef in the South China Sea after a Chinese destroyer manoeuvred close to a US warship attempting to assert navigation rights. China accused the US of violating its “indisputable sovereignty”. Pence said: “Despite such reckless harassment, the US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows and our national interests demand.
“We will not be intimidated, and we will not stand down.”
The US Pacific Fleet is planning a global show of force to warn China and demonstrate resolve to deter Beijing’s military actions, CNN reported on Thursday, citing several unidentified US defence officials.
Pence also weighed in on Beijing’s effort to diplomatically isolate Taiwan’s China-sceptic president, Tsai Ing-wen.
The democratically governed island, which China considers part of its own territory, has seen Beijing lure away several of its diplomatic partners in recent months.
“While our administration will continue to respect our One-China policy, as reflected in the three joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, America will always believe that Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people,” Pence said.