Under the direction of then-President Donald Trump, the CIA launched a covert campaign in 2019 on social media to turn public opinion in China against the government, Reuters reported.
Former US officials said Trump’s authorization allowed the CIA to take action in China and in countries where Washington and Beijing are vying for influence. Operations to denigrate China on social media were carried out in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific. The CIA also leaked “disparaging intelligence” to international news outlets to paint China in a bad light.
The former US officials speaking to Reuters did not offer much detail about the social media campaign but said CIA operatives using false identities were spreading narratives about corruption in China and about Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The officials claimed the actions were a response to China using covert means to spread its global influence.
Reuters said it was unable to determine if President Biden continued the campaign but noted that if a president gives the CIA covert action authority, it carries through administrations. Biden has taken a hard line against China by expanding the US military presence in the Asia Pacific, increasing support for Taiwan, and escalating the trade war and sanctions campaign against China.
Biden’s CIA has also been hyper-focused on China as it established a new spy center dedicated exclusively to the country. CIA Director William Burns has said openly that his agency is working to rebuild spy networks inside China after losing assets in the country over a decade ago.
In response to the Reuters report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the CIA operations show the US uses “public opinion space and media platforms as weapons to spread false information and manipulate international public opinion.”
People we never vote for run this country.
Not necessarily from the country either.
Ain’t that a very clear fact!!! 🙁
Mr. Trump also instituted tariffs against China, that in many cases backfired. Restrictions on Chinese steel benefited a couple of steel mills and their employees, but cause massive expenses on the part of users of steel. The CEO of GM said that the tariffs caused an increase in the price of steel, costing GM $6 billion.
Everybody loves tariffs on other country’s imports, not realizing they are actually taxes coming out of their own pockets–not China’s.
I’ll take good jobs in the USA over lower prices any time, GM can cry all they want, $38 mill to the head of GM tells me something.
Whatever Trump attempted to do to keep the swamp happy, failed. Case in point with his failed coup attempt of Venezuela. He just wasn’t good at it.
He was and is an ignorant Buffon, and to think our choice for POTUS is JoBye or Trump says it all. I fear hell is coming to our shores.
And yet the headline yesterday that majority of Americans trust China over their own govt speaks truth to power that a lie is just that a lie.
CIA can talk blue in the face but there are two nations who will always look on China favorably…
Iraq and Libya
What poll found that? USA Fed. Gov. is our worst enemy, truly!!
And yet the headline yesterday that majority of Americans trust China over their own govt speaks truth to power that a lie is just that a lie.
CIA can talk blue in the face but there are two nations who will always look on China favorably…
Iraq and Libya
This was a big part of that propaganda effort:
Lies about China’s Uyghur Oppression
… Which utterly failed….!
Biden is re-enforcing US military around China because the 2019 CIA covert campaign failed…!
Losing Assets…?! Does he mean exposure by Chinese government…?!