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The US secretary of state says China biggest national security challenge facing America

Thursday, 01 November 2018 6:38 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 02 November 2018 4:28 AM ]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to members of the media in the briefing room of the State Department October 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says China is the biggest national security challenge facing the United States and the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing back against China “on all fronts.”

Speaking in a radio interview on Wednesday, Pompeo said Washington was engaged in a “multi-pronged effort ... to convince Beijing to behave like a “normal nation.”

The top US diplomat told the Brian Kilmeade Show that China’s stealing of intellectual property has cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars.

“It is a multipronged effort on behalf of all of the United States Government, at the President’s direction, to convince China to behave like a normal nation on commerce and with respect to the rules of international law,” he said.

Pompeo also told the Laura Ingraham Show that “China is probably, over the long term, the biggest challenge, national security challenge that faces our country.”

“This is the first administration that has been prepared to push back against China, and we’re doing so on all fronts,” he said.

PressTV-US: Chinese spies wanted aviation data

A group of Chinese intelligence officers have been charged in the United States with hacking into private companies’ computer systems in an effort to steal aviation data.

A US indictment unsealed on Tuesday said Chinese intelligence officers conspired with hackers and company insiders to break into computer systems of private firms to steal information on a turbo fan engine used in commercial jetliners.

It was the third major corporate espionage-related case involving Chinese intelligence officers brought by the US Justice Department since last month and comes at a time when Washington is embroiled in a major trade war with Beijing.

The United States and China have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other’s goods over the past few months, sparked by Trump’s demands for an end to alleged Chinese intellectual property theft, deep cuts to industrial subsidies, and action to resolve the massive US trade deficit with China.

Early this month, US Vice President Mike Pence intensified Washington’s pressure campaign against Beijing by accusing China of “malign” efforts to undermine Trump ahead of next week's midterm congressional elections and reckless military actions in the disputed South China Sea.

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