China Attempting To Blackmail US Legislators, Director Of National Intelligence Ratcliffe Says

Tiananmen Square

China is attempting to blackmail the United States legislators, says Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe in an interview with CBS News last Thursday, December 3, 2020

"They want laws and policies of the United States that are favorable to China. What they are really trying to do is through blackmail, through bribery, through overt and covert influence, trying to make sure that only laws only favorable to China are being passed," Ratcliffe told CBS News's Catherine Herridge during the interview.

Ratcliffe said he was so troubled by what he discovered, being the Director of National Intelligence, that he informed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees immediately about it. He said the information also caused the members of the said committees to be surprised and also troubled afterwards.

Ratcliffe also said in the interview that China has only began in its operations and is actually aiming to dominate the world market by setting authoritarian rules that do not respect the privacy of individuals and of privacy. He also blamed China's Communist Party actions for the coronavirus pandemic, which has gravely affected the way of life of Americans.

The CBS interview actually took place after Ratcliffe released an article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

"The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China's major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party," Ratcliffe divulged in the said article.

He called China's tactic as "economic espionage" which pertains to the act of robbing intellectual property from US companies only to replicate and resell it.

"If I could communicate one thing to the American people from this unique vantage point, it is that the People's Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II," he stressed in the said article.

Meanwhile, Life Site reported that Ratcliffe's article in the Wall Street Journal focused more on China's economic espionage than on allegations of their manipulation of legislators. The allegations, Life Site added, actually arose after information of former Vice President Joe Biden's family creating a partnership with CEFC China Energy through SinoHawk Holdings.

SinoHawk Holdings intends to invest in technology, infrastructure, and real estate in and outside the US. The partnership poses danger since CEFC China Energy aims to rally the programs of China's president through investments with global reach, mostly in infrustructure, as per Life Site.

Life Site cited SinoHawk Holdings former CEO Tony Bobulinski of accusing Biden to be involved first-hand in this hidden agenda of CEFC China Energy. This accusation came from a May 13, 2017 email that mentioned a certain Jim getting 10% of shares in the said business.

John Ratcliffe served as the Representative of the 4th District of Texas for five years before he was appointed by President Donald Trump as Director for National Intelligence.