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U.S. NEWS Friday 5 OctOber 2018
Vice President Pence accuses China of meddling in U.S.

By DEB RIECHMANN and Pence said other examples North Korean, not Chinese,
ZEKE MILLER of "proactive and coercive" Pence said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice ways that China is med- —China provides money to
President Mike Pence dling in the U.S include: U.S. universities, think tanks
charged Thursday that Rus- —"The Chinese Communist and scholars with the un-
sia's influence operations in Party is rewarding or coerc- derstanding that they will
America pale in compari- ing American businesses, avoid ideas that the Com-
son to the covert and overt movie studios, universities, munist Party finds offensive,
activities China is taking to think tanks, scholars, jour- Pence said. "Even schol-
interfere in the U.S. midterm nalists and local, state, and ars and groups who avoid
elections and counter Pres- federal officials." Chinese funding are tar-
ident Donald Trump's tough —Senior Chinese officials geted by that country, as
trade policies against Bei- have tried to influence the Hudson Institute found
jing. business leaders to con- out firsthand," he said. After
Pence laid out measures demn U.S. trade actions, the institute offered to host
Beijing is employing to un- "leveraging their desire to a speaker from Beijing that
dermine the Trump admin- maintain their operations in Chinese officials opposed,
istration. They include pub- China." Pence said in one its website was hit with a cy-
lic steps such as targeting recent example, China berattack that originated
Chinese tariffs to industries threatened to deny a busi- from Shanghai, he said.
in states that are crucial to ness license for a major U.S. National security adviser
Trump in the midterms as corporation "if it refused to John Bolton said much of
well as behind-the-scenes speak out against our ad- what the U.S. knows about
actions like coercing U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, at the ministration's policies." Chinese activities in the
businesses to speak out Hudson Institute in Washington. —Beijing compelled Delta United States remains clas-
against the Trump admin- Associated Press Airlines to publicly apolo- sified.
istration and intimidating gize for not calling Taiwan He said if more were declas-
scholars. China and a pivotal state in and acquire technology a "province of China" on sified, it would help Ameri-
China has denied that it this year's elections and the under U.S. export controls. its website, he said. It also cans better understand the
interferes in any countries' 2020 presidential election. Pence offered only two ex- pressured Marriott to fire a scope of the Chinese ac-
domestic affairs, but Pence "The supplement, designed amples related to the up- U.S. employee who liked a tions to affect the election
said Beijing's actions add to look like news articles, coming elections — the tar- tweet about Tibet. and its "broader effort to
up to a simple message: cast our trade policies as geted tariffs and the adver- —Beijing's censors edit or influence political opinion
"China wants a different reckless and harmful to Io- tising supplement — which outlaw U.S. movies that in this country through aca-
American president." wans." did not rise to the level of criticize China. The movie demic institutions, through
"Beijing has mobilized co- Pence's speech served as a the Russian effort to med- "Red Dawn" was digitally think tanks, through intimi-
vert actors, front groups follow-up of sorts to Trump's dle in the 2016 election. But edited to make the villains dation of scholars."q
and propaganda outlets charge before the U.N. Se- he pointed to a document
to shift Americans' percep- curity Council last month Beijing circulated in June
tion of Chinese policies," that China was meddling in titled "Propaganda and
he said. "As a senior career U.S. elections to help Dem- Censorship Notice," which
member of our intelligence ocrats. laid out a broader influ-
community recently told After Trump's remark, in- ence campaign, similar to
me just this week, what the telligence and homeland Russia's ongoing disinfor-
Russians are doing pales in security experts said they mation campaign against
comparison to what China didn't know of any Chinese the U.S.
is doing across this country influence operations akin The document stated that
and the American people to Russian activities during China must "strike accu-
deserve to know." the 2016 presidential elec- rately and carefully, split-
Pence said China has re- tion. ting apart different domes-
sponded to Trump's tough U.S. intelligence agencies tic groups" in the United
trade policies against Bei- assess that Russia interfered States, the vice president
jing with tariffs of its own de- in 2016 to boost Trump over said.
signed to inflict maximum his Democratic rival Hill- Pence also said more U.S.
political damage. ary Clinton through hack- companies should think
"By one estimate, more ing and releasing sensitive twice before entering the
than 80 percent of U.S. documents and social me- Chinese market if it means
counties targeted by China dia manipulation. turning over their intellec-
voted for President Trump Experts say China is more tual property.
and I (sic) in 2016," Pence known for conducting eco- He urged Google to "imme-
said during a speech de- nomic espionage. A recent diately end development
livered at the Hudson Insti- intelligence report said of the 'Dragonfly' app that
tute, a conservative think China uses joint ventures will strengthen Commu-
tank. "Now, China wants to try to acquire technical nist Party censorship and
to turn these voters against know-how, seeks partner- compromise the privacy
our administration." ships with U.S. government of Chinese customers."
He also noted a multi-page labs to learn about specific Google employees and
advertising supplement technology and informa- others have protested the
that was inserted last week tion about running such fa- company's plan to build a
in the Des Moines Register cilities, and uses front com- search engine that would
in Iowa, the home state panies to hide the hand of comply with Chinese cen-
of the U.S. ambassador to the Chinese government sorship.