The director of the FBI says the whole of Chinese society is a threat to the US - February 14, 2018

Media Report

February 14 , 2018

Business Insider：The director of the FBI says the whole of Chinese society is a threat to the US
Business Insider reports: "FBI director Christopher Wray reiterated a commonly held view on Tuesday that China is seeking to become a global superpower through unconventional means — but framed the threat China poses to the US as not just a governmental one, but as a societal one, too. Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee alongside the heads of other US intelligence agencies, Wray told Senators that China is using a host of methods to undermine American military, economic, cultural, and informational power across the globe that rely on more than just China's state institutions. "One of the things we're trying to do is view the China threat as not just a whole of government threat, but a whole of society threat on their end," Wray said, "and I think it's going to take a whole-of-society response by us." Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats expressed a similar sentiment after Sen. Marco Rubio asked him about China's plans to overtake the US as the world's supreme world power. "There is no question that what you have just articulated is what's happening with China," Coats said. "They're doing it in a very smart way; they're doing it in a very effective way; they are looking beyond their own region." Coats said multiple agencies are conducting "intensive studies" to understand the ways China is looking to carry out its global agenda."
CBS News：China doesn't understand U.S. "feeling of insecurity"
CBS News reports: "Beijing has no idea why the U.S. harbors such a "feeling of insecurity," a Chinese spokesman said Wednesday, responding to an American government report singling out China as among the countries posing the greatest cyber threats. The U.S. remains the world's top major power, with "unparalleled" military strength, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing. "I do not know where the severe feeling of insecurity in the United States came from," Geng said. "But I want to emphasize that in this world there is no such thing as absolute security. One country's security can't be put before another country's security. We hope the U.S. will discard the zero-sum mindset, stop viewing big power relationship from the perspective of confrontation, follow the trend of times of peaceful development and work with Russia and China to jointly ensure the world peace and stability." The U.S. report also listed Russia, Iran and North Korea as posing major cyber threats. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said Tuesday that the U.S. must craft responses to minimize attacks. U.S. officials have accused China -- including its military -- of operating a sweeping hacking operation targeting the Pentagon, defense contractors and other targets. In addition to stealing secrets and intellectual property, the operations could also be used to attack the U.S. financial system, power grid and other critical infrastructure in the event of a conflict."
The Atlantic：China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious
The Atlantic comments: "For all the particularities of life in China, its big cities offer a familiar cosmopolitanism... Home to half a billion human beings, beset by pressures both shared with other urban places and uniquely Chinese, it's remarkable that churning conurbations like Shanghai, Chengdu, or Beijing are not constantly breaking out into open, ungovernable chaos. Just like cities anywhere, though, they do not—a stability that appears to arise almost entirely from self-organization. Perhaps spurred on by their distaste for everything implied by such liberality, the Chinese government has become convinced that a far greater degree of social control is both necessary and possible... Known by the anodyne name "social credit," this system is designed to reach into every corner of existence both online and off. It monitors each individual's consumer behavior, conduct on social networks, and real-world infractions like speeding tickets or quarrels with neighbors. Then it integrates them into a single, algorithmically-determined "sincerity" score... This end-to-end grid of social control is still in its prototype stages, but three things are already becoming clear: First, where it has actually been deployed, it has teeth. Second, it has profound implications for the texture of urban life. And finally, there's nothing so distinctly Chinese about it that it couldn't be rolled out anywhere else the right conditions obtain. The advent of social credit portends changes both dramatic and consequential for life in cities everywhere—including the one you might call home."

Calendar

2018-02-13 As China Marches Forward on A.I., the White House Is Silent
2018-02-12 Chinese stealth fighters are combat-ready, Beijing says
2018-02-11 China pledges 'employment first' policies to create millions of jobs
2018-02-09 China draws up trade retaliation options against US
2018-02-08 China's imports surge 37% in January, exports jump 11%
2018-02-07 The Rise of China and the Fall of the ‘Free Trade’ Myth
2018-02-06 China’s latest trade maneuver is worrying. Here’s the story.
2018-02-05 China Opens Inquiry Into U.S. Sorghum as Trade Tensions Worsen
2018-02-04 China Launches Probe Over US Sorghum Imports
2018-02-02 Britain’s May discusses trade barriers with China’s Xi

News

Commentary