The threatening stance from China towards the West is “more brazen, more damaging” than ever before, Wray said, in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California on Monday, labeling the Chinese Communist Party the “global adversary” of the US.
The FBI chief outlined a wide range of accusations against Beijing, from technology theft and hacking, to kidnapping of foreign citizens and blackmail. “When we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology, there’s just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China,” Wray said.
The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries, so much so that we’re constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations, about every 12 hours.
“Just using cyber means, Chinese government hackers have stolen more of our personal and corporate data than all other countries combined,” Wray said.
Noting that the agency continues to adapt to countering Beijing, he said “I believe that, in the course of doing so, we’re showing why the Chinese government needs to change course, for all of our sakes.”
Wray’s address came the same day billionaire and philanthropist George Soros claimed that China was going to use the upcoming Winter Olympics, set to kick off in Beijing on February 4, to “score a propaganda victory” akin to the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany.
The US and several other Western countries refused to send officials to the games, citing China’s poor human-rights record. Athletes, including those from Team USA, will compete in the games, however.
Beijing did not immediately respond to Wray’s statements, but has repeatedly denied that China poses a threat to the US or to any other nation in particular.