China ‘As Big A Threat To US’ As Russia

Chinese efforts to exert covert influence over the West are just as concerning as Russian subversion, the director of the CIA has said.

Mike Pompeo told the BBC that the Chinese “have a much bigger footprint” to do this than the Russians do.

As examples he cited efforts to steal US commercial information and infiltration of schools and hospitals – and this extended to Europe and the UK.

Mr Pompeo was a hardline Republican congressman before becoming CIA chief.

“Think about the scale of the two economies,” Mr Pompeo said of Russia and China.

“The Chinese have a much bigger footprint upon which to execute that mission than the Russians do.”

“I hope that they will rise up and understand that it is not the best interests of their country to send forces to places like Europe as proxies to try and conduct malign activity in Europe when there’s so much that can be done to make Iran a better place,” he said.

“We are confident that the Iranian people will understand that. We are hopeful that their leaders will accept that proposition as well.”

Source: BBC