Experts and lawmakers in Congress expressed on Thursday that the Taiwan issue is just one part of a broader Chinese strategy countering the U.S. They also highlighted concerns over the potential war in the region triggered by the Chinese Communist Party’s possible invasion of Taiwan.
During two separate hearings on Thursday, U.S. House lawmakers expressed concern about the Chinese communist government’s potential threat to the United States in terms of cyber security and the ongoing border crisis.
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability conducted a hearing regarding the surge in Chinese nationals entering the United States through the southern border since President Joe Biden assumed office.
U.S. Representative Dan Bishop, from Texas and the chair of the committee, emphasized the gravity of the issue as he opened the hearing, stating that national security has been a longstanding concern.
“Regrettably, the Biden administration has instructed border patrol agents to conduct short, basic interviews with Chinese nationals, lacking in-depth questioning and serious vetting,” he explained.
The number of migrants coming to California has seen a significant increase in recent years, making it the state with the highest influx.
The growing number of unauthorized immigrants from one of America’s biggest adversaries has sparked worries about national security. In a recent address to the American Bar Association’s Committee on Law and National Security, FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that China is the most significant threat of our time.
According to Wray, China engages in various activities, including traditional espionage, economic espionage, foreign malign influence, election interference, and transnational repression. He emphasized that these actions are often interconnected and coordinated.
“They engage in corporate deception by recruiting human sources to target our businesses, utilizing insiders to steal the same kinds of innovation and data that their hackers are pursuing,” he emphasized.
Experts suggest that the influx of Chinese migrants, many of whom entered the country without detection or proper processing, may be assisting China in their endeavors.
A Chinese national illegal immigrant was apprehended at a Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona, near the southwest border, in a striking incident.
Chinese hacking remains a persistent problem for the United States. In fact, the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation recently conducted a hearing on China’s cyber threats.
During the hearing, William Evanina, the Former Special Assistant to the President and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, emphasized the importance of not underestimating the threat posed by China.
According to Evanina, the CCP is an unparalleled adversary in terms of both its capabilities and intentions. He points out that cyber breaches, insider threats, surveillance, and penetrations into critical infrastructure have been extensively documented and have unfortunately become a norm for the nation. Additionally, the CCP’s extensive control over various aspects of the supply chain further exacerbates the imbalance and domestic vulnerability, which Evanina deems as unacceptable.
China’s cyber efforts extend beyond the use of the popular social media app TikTok for spying, which has gained significant attention. Instead, these efforts are part of a broader strategy pursued by China in the cyber realm.
According to him, the collage of the CCP’s actions becomes increasingly worrisome when we consider their involvement in various areas such as surveillance balloons, technical surveillance stations in Cuba, maritime cranes, Huawei, TikTok, strategic land purchases, and foreign influence.