Chinese agents have stepped up efforts to influence the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden. At least this is what an American intelligence official has stated, he writes BBC.
William Evanina, of the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the Chinese were also targeting people close to the Biden team.
In a virtual discussion with the Aspen Institute, Evanina said China had tried to interfere in US efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine and in the presidential election.
He continued: “We've also seen an uptick, which was planned and we predicted, that China would now re-vector their influence campaigns into the new Biden administration.
And when I say that, that foreign malign influence, that diplomatic influence too much or on steroids, we're starting to see that play out all over the country and not just in the people who are going to start in the new administration, but in those that are around those people.”
During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden and Donald Trump made strong accusations against each other over influence from Beijing.
Trump focused on his rival Hunter Biden's son's business dealings in China, while the Democratic candidate mentioned to him a bank account he had in China.
Meanwhile, John Demers, the head of the Department of Justice's Department of Homeland Security, said hundreds of Chinese researchers with ties to their country's military had been identified by FBI investigators over the summer and are suspected of espionage.
