U.S. Issues Counterintelligence Communique on CCP’s Operations

On July 6th, the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) warned state and local officials that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Government is using various tactics to manipulate them into pressing Washington to develop more friendly policies toward CCP.

In a bulletin sent to state and local officials, the NCSC said the CCP understands that U.S. state and local leaders enjoy a degree of independence from Washington. Therefore, the CCP may seek to use them as proxies to indirectly influence U.S. national policy for China’s use.

The warning comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. The current antagonism between the two countries extends to various levels, such as U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and China’s human rights record to Beijing’s military activities in the South China Sea and alleged espionage activities against the United States.

The announcement said, “China’s actions to influence other countries can be deceptive and coercive, and seemingly benign business opportunities, or people-to-people exchanges, actually obscure the CCP’s political agenda. Their practices include exploiting the Chinese people’s foreign policy. Frontier groups such as the Friendship Association. This group fosters a ‘sister’ relationship between Beijing and the U.S. locality. Another group available is the China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association, which ostensibly promotes Sino-U.S. friendship.”