China positioning itself to supplant America as next superpower: US official

China is positioning itself to supplant America as the world’s next superpower through “economic aggression” and “relentless theft of US assets”, the Trump administration has told a powerful Congressional committee.Assistant Director of counter-intelligence Division, FBI E W “Bill” Priestap told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on Chinese espionage activities that after the World War-II, the US and its allies created an international order that has led to greater peace, prosperity and human rights than at any other time in human history.The Chinese government has been exploiting this order while simultaneously trying to challenge and replace it. The resulting double standards are everywhere, he said Wednesday.”China tries to dominate Internet governance to benefit Chinese telecom companies, yet China censors its own Internet and eliminates data privacy,” Priestap alleged.”It is alarming that the Chinese government’s economic aggression, including its relentless theft of US assets, is positioning China to supplant us as the world’s superpower,” he alleged.A Chinese police officer becomes President of Interpol, yet that official later disappears into China’s opaque criminal system, accused of vague crimes and never seen again. China ratifies the UN convention on the law of the sea, yet builds artificial islands in disputed waters, he said.”China claims to champion the developing world, yet China’s loans create debt traps and undermine sovereignty. The Chinese government pursues its goals by any means necessary, some are clearly illegal like economic espionage and computer intrusions.”Even those that appear legal often rely on deception, such as front companies or digital backdoors. Some are lawful but not reciprocal, exploiting the openness of free nations. That’s why investigations and judicial actions are critical, but we need an even broader response to this threat,” the FBI official said.According to John Demers, Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division in the Department of Justice, China is driven by a desire to be at the forefront of 10 critical technologies laid out in its ‘Made in China’ 2025 plan.”No one begrudges a nation that generates the most innovative ideas, and from them, develops the best technology, but we cannot tolerate a nation that steals the fruits of our brainpower, and that is just what China is doing to achieve its development goals,” he said.