By J.M. Phelps (One News Now)
An expert on China and former military officer agrees with President Trump’s secretary of state that the Chinese are exploiting America’s freedoms and gaining an advantage at every level – federal, state, and local.
America’s top diplomat said over the weekend that the Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated America’s infrastructure – and that the East Asian country seeks to not only compromise the U.S. economy, but also the national security and rights of privacy and protection of her people.
During his speech on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called upon state governors to be attentive to the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration into the infrastructure of the United States. “We can’t ignore China’s actions and strategic intentions,” he stated at this year’s National Governors Association. He delivered similar warnings almost a week earlier while speaking in Kazakhstan.
OneNewsNow spoke to Brig. Gen. Robert S. Spalding (USAF-Ret.) about China’s successful infiltration of American institutions. The expert on China reveals how U.S.-China relations are being compromised at various levels as Pompeo suggests. “Essentially, America’s strengths are being turned into vulnerabilities,” Spalding explains.
The former Air Force officer says the “globalized world” is the direct result of the rapid growth of the Internet. The global system of interconnected networks, he says, has contributed to “tremendous economic growth and opportunities” for people all around the world.
According to the general, China’s activities against the United States “accelerated” when China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001. At the time, Spalding says, China’s economy was less than one trillion dollars. Today, he points out, their economy is over $13 trillion.
“[As a result of China entering the WTO], we lost over 70,000 factories, over three million manufacturing jobs, and a total of more than 13 million jobs in the United States,” he shares, arguing that harming the U.S. economy has been a long-standing threat.
Spalding, who’s a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, attests that China is transforming America’s success into vulnerabilities by “undermining and repudiating U.S. institutions, rules, and laws.”
While the United states may have “very powerful” military capabilities, the retired Air Force officer contends that “the institutions, departments, and agencies in the federal government are not equipped to deal with a nation state whose economy is number two in the world and seeks to essentially undermine the [American] system from within.”
In one example, Spalding points out that Bell Labs, headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, used to be the most accomplished telecom inventor and supplier in the world. He describes China’s nefarious activities as “undermining the telecom equipment manufacturing industry to the point where no one can make a profit.” Consequently, he says, North American equipment manufacturers are being “decimated.”
The future brings another threat in the form of fifth generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks. “5G is really an increasingly global surveillance model that’s using your information to gather intelligence about you,” Spalding explains.
According to Spalding, this “intel” will be used “to sell you things and drive a profit off of that capability.” What’s more, he says, “the Chinese are also using the technology for controlling society.” He explains that the Chinese are able to pressure U.S. corporations, financial firms, and people to participate in activities that solely benefit the East Asian country.
“Vast amounts of the data gathered around the world goes to the intelligence arm of the Chinese regime and the influence arm of the Chinese Communist Party,” he contends – and all the while, China continues to infiltrate U.S. institutions and compromise America’s national security and the rights of her people. According to Pompeo, every state may be affected.
Spalding is author of “Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept.”
J.M. Phelps is a counter-terrorism specialist, suicide bombing expert, and freelance journalist, focusing on national security for OneNewsNow. He is also editor and publisher of the website Lantern of Liberty.
Originally published by One News Now on Monday, February 10, 2020.
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