US Vice-President Mike Pence steps up attacks on China by backing Donald Trump’s claim it’s trying to sabotage elections
The vice-president‘s claim Beijing is trying to undermine America’s ‘most cherished ideals’ comes three months into trade war
US Vice-President Mike Pence accused Beijing of using every tool at its disposal to undermine the US political system and warned American companies, including tech giant Alphabet, which owns Google, to disengage from China until the country stops actions aimed at undermining the US’s “most cherished ideals”.
In a wide-ranging speech delivered on Thursday at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, Pence renewed claims by US President Donald Trump that China was seeking to interfere in the upcoming US midterm elections.
“As President Trump said just last week, we have found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 elections,” he said.
“Our intelligence community says that China is targeting US state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy.”
“What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,” he added.
“As we speak, Beijing is employing a whole-of-government approach, using political, economic and military tools, as well as propaganda, to advance its influence and benefit its interests in the United States,” Pence said.