China has stepped up efforts to influence the administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

This was stated by the director of the US National Center for Counterintelligence and Security, William Evanina.

“We are also seeing the previously predicted surge.

We predicted that China would now redirect its campaigns to influence the new Biden administration.

And we see that this pernicious foreign influence, extended diplomatic pressure "on steroids" is unfolding throughout the country, and not only those who step into the new administration, but also their entourage are targeted, ”Evanina emphasized during the online event of the NGO Aspen Institute.

In this regard, in this regard, it is important to pay attention to the secret intelligence briefings that Biden will receive as president-elect.

“We will strive to ensure that the new administration understands the essence of such an influence, knows how it looks, what it tastes like, how it feels, and can recognize it,” the official said.

At the same event, the US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers spoke, urging the new administration to remain vigilant against foreign influence.

He referred to the experience gained after Russia's "interference" in the 2016 elections.

"Traditional theme"

Recall that Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that, in his opinion, Joe Biden will not defend the interests of the United States in relations with China.

On the eve of the elections, the Republican wrote on his Twitter that if his rival takes over as head of state, the PRC will "take over" America.

In addition, the president himself and his campaign headquarters promoted speculation that Beijing could allegedly influence Biden through his son Hunter, who has ties to Chinese companies.

So, in April, the Trump team released a campaign video, which showed footage of Joe and Hunter Biden's visit to Beijing in 2013.

The signature to it said that Biden "protects the investment."

  • Joe Biden during a visit to China in 2013

  • Reuters

  • © How Hwee Young / Pool

At the end of October, the Biden family business partner Tony Bobulinski spoke on Fox News, claiming that Joe Biden was allegedly aware of his son Hunter's business ties with CEFC China Energy.

Bobulinski claimed that Hunter Biden was being offered a $ 10 million a year fee just to be presented to his father.

It is worth noting that Biden Sr. denies this kind of accusation, and no official confirmation of the facts mentioned has been provided.

Analysts, in turn, note that accusations against Biden of his alleged ties with China are "a traditional theme in US political culture."

Experts remind that the Democratic Party used similar tools in the fight against Trump.

"The authorities are always looking for traces of some kind of external interference, since this is the easiest way to switch the population's attention from their own problems to an external threat, for example, Russia or China," said Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT.

"The essence will remain the same"

Relations between the United States and China began to change even under Barack Obama, but they reached a crisis peak already under Trump, who was actively introducing new sanctions and trade duties against China.

In 2018, the Pentagon published the US National Defense Strategy, in which China and Russia were identified as the main threats to Washington in the context of great power rivalry.

But last summer, US defense chief Mark Esper highlighted the PRC as America's most dangerous military rival and instructed the National Defense University to devote 50% of the curriculum to China.

  • White House

  • Reuters

  • © Tom Brenner

At the same time, anti-Chinese sentiments were also fueled in American society.

For example, FBI Director Christopher Ray, during a speech at the Hudson Institute, said that the PRC allegedly steals the personal data of American citizens, and more than half of the 5,000 active FBI investigations on counterintelligence issues in one way or another relate to China.

After Joe Biden was declared the winner in the US presidential election, there was a chance that the confrontational course towards Beijing could change, political analysts say.

Thus, the PRC Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that Washington would cooperate with Beijing and adhere to the principle of mutual respect.

"We need cooperation, we have a large space for cooperation, we have disagreements, but they need to be regulated and controlled, to help ensure that Chinese-American relations go on the right track," RIA Novosti quotes Deputy Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Le Yuchen.

The diplomat added that China's position on relations with the United States is "clear and consistent."

“We believe that, despite the existence of certain contradictions and disagreements, we have a wide range of common interests,” he said.

In turn, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger advised the administration of the presidential candidate Joe Biden to improve relations with China as soon as possible.

“If there is no basis for cooperation, the world will slide into a catastrophe comparable to the First World War,” the former Secretary of State said during the opening of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

He added that due to the development of military technology, such a crisis would now be much more difficult to control than before.

"America and China are now increasingly inclined towards confrontation and conduct their diplomacy in a confrontational manner," said Kissinger, stressing that the crisis could "go beyond rhetoric and turn into a real military conflict."

It is worth noting that, as the head of the State Department in the administration of Richard Nixon, Kissinger took part in the establishment of diplomatic and trade relations between the United States and China.

However, as Joe Biden has already said, Washington's course towards Beijing will remain unchanged for now.

The democrat stressed that for now he intends to keep in force the 25% tariffs in force on almost half of Chinese imports to the United States, and the agreement on the purchase of US goods by China for $ 200 billion to equalize the trade balance.

In turn, experts believe that Biden does not view China as an existential threat, and therefore may well switch to building a dialogue with Beijing.

“However, Biden is unlikely to abandon the containment policy,” says Blokhin.

Vasily Kashin, a senior research fellow at the Higher School of Economics, shares a similar point of view.

From his point of view, in order to avoid accusations of bias in favor of China, Biden is likely to continue the course of pressure on Beijing.

“The course towards China began to change even Obama, under which the first steps to increase military, economic and political pressure on the PRC began to be worked out.

At that time, American domestic policy was not in crisis, so measures were prepared in a planned manner, they tried to coordinate them with allies.

After Trump came to the White House, he dropped some of his predecessor's programs, and brought everything related to military pressure to the limit.

I think Biden will continue the policy of pressure on China.

Her style may change, for example, there will be fewer harsh statements, but the essence will remain approximately the same, ”predicted Kashin.