The intelligence community warned on Wednesday that state and local leaders risk being “manipulated” to support “hidden” agendas by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as China tries to target officials outside Washington to push for Beijing-friendly policies at the federal level. The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) warned on Wednesday that as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise, China is seeking to “exploit US subnational relations to influence US policies and advance the DPRK’s geopolitical interests”. The NCSC warned that Chinese influence operations in the U.S. are set to extend support for PRC interests among state and local leaders and use those relationships to “press Washington for Beijing-friendly policies.” “The DPRK understands that US state and local leaders enjoy a degree of independence from Washington and may seek to use them as proxies to support US national policies that Beijing desires, including improved US economic cooperation with China and reduced US criticism of China’s policies towards Taiwan. Tibetans, Uyghurs, pro-democracy activists and others,” the NCSC explained. CHINA POSES ‘BIGEST LONG-TERM THREAT TO ECONOMIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY,’ FBI DIRECTOR Wray WARNS President Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a virtual summit from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, November 15, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) While the People’s Republic of China and the CCP continue to directly influence Washington, the NCSC said they are stepping up efforts to “cultivate US state and local leaders” in a strategy some have described as “using the local to surround the central”. “For the DPRK and the CCP, targeting state and local entities can be an effective way to pursue agendas that may be more demanding at the national level,” the NCSC said, warning that DPRK influence operations “may be deceptive and coercive” and are “ostensibly benign business opportunities or people-to-people exchanges, sometimes disguising the DPRK’s political agendas.” The NCSC also warned officials to be on the lookout for financial incentives, which may be used to attract local leaders given their focus on local economic issues. “In some cases, the DPRK or its proxies may pressure state and local leaders to take actions aligned with their local needs, but also to advance DPRK agendas, sometimes in the US national interest,” he explained. the NCSC. “By their very nature, these efforts can have a corrosive effect on targeted societies. They can also threaten the integrity of the U.S. policymaking process and interfere with the way U.S. political, economic, and political life operates.” The intelligence community urged states and localities working with China to exercise vigilance when engaging and insist on transparency in all deals, while maintaining liaison with US authorities such as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. (Huang Jingwen/Xinhua via AP) The intelligence community pointed to several real-life examples of the DPRK’s efforts, including one in 2020 when a DPRK consulate contacted a senator with a resolution drafted by DPRK officials praising China for its efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 and requested that the senator introduce the resolution for a vote in the state legislature. The DPRK’s foreign influence activities can be “overt,” such as public diplomacy, where the role of the DPRK government is “open and undisguised,” according to the NCSC. But these activities can also be “covert”, where the role of the DPRK is hidden. The activities may also be “coercive or even criminal in nature”. CHINA’S XI JINPING IS A ‘SILENT PARTNER’ IN PUTIN’S ‘ATTACK’ ON UKRAINE, CIA DIRECTOR BURNS WARNS The intelligence community urged states and localities working with China to exercise vigilance when engaging and insist on transparency in all deals, while maintaining liaison with US authorities such as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The warning from the intelligence community comes as FBI Director Christopher Wray warned on Wednesday that China poses the “greatest long-term threat” to the “economic and national security” of the United States and other Western nations. Wray pointed to the “complex, persistent and pervasive danger” China poses to both nations and other Western allies. The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) “We consistently see the Chinese government as the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our,’ I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” he said. Ray. He added that “it is the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party that are the threat we are focusing on addressing – not the Chinese people and certainly not the Chinese immigrants in our countries – who are themselves often victims of the Chinese government’s illegal aggression.” “ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ray warned that the Chinese government “poses an even more serious threat to Western business than even many sophisticated business people realize” and said the “danger” from China is “complex and growing.” “The Chinese government is ready to steal your technology — whatever it is that makes your industry stand out — and use it to undermine your business and dominate your market,” Wray said. “And they’re starting to use every tool at their disposal to do it.” Brooke Singman is a political reporter for Fox News Digital. She can be reached at [email protected] or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
