China continues to 'lie, cheat, and steal' for dominating tech sector: FBI Director

Washington [US], October 25 : Calling out the Chinese government's disregard for the rule of law, fair business practices, and international norms, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray said China continues to 'lie, cheat, and steal' in a bid for tech dominance.
FBI Director highlighted that there is a coordinated effort across the "Chinese government to lie, cheat, and steal their way into unfairly dominating entire technology sectors, putting competing US companies out of business."
Director Wray made these remarks at a press conference announcing actions to disrupt criminal activity by individuals associated with the Chinese government hosted by the US Justice Department, on Monday.
While discussing charged individuals he said, "10 of the 13 we're discussing today are Chinese intelligence officers and Chinese government officials. They're charged in three different cases that might seem at first glance to be about unrelated issues."
However, saying that this is something he has been talking about for years, he noted "each of these cases lays bare the Chinese government's flagrant violation of international laws, as they work to project their authoritarian view around the world, including within our own borders."
"In all three of these cases, and in thousands of others, we've found the Chinese government threatening established democratic norms and the rule of law, as they work to undermine U.S. economic security and fundamental human rights--including those of Americans."
"As I've pointed out before, their economic assault and their rights violations are part of the same problem. They both flout the rule of law. And one of the purposes of the Chinese government's repression is to make it easier to steal our innovation. They try to silence anyone who fights back against their theft--companies, politicians, individuals--just as they try to silence anyone who fights back against their other aggressions."
Since he started as FBI Director, he said he has been repeatedly sounding the alarm about the Chinese government's disregard for fair business practices, for international norms, and for the rule of law.
"The FBI has been reaching out to and warning--and most importantly, helping--the communities that the Chinese government targets: Businesses of every size and in almost every sector, from agriculture, to green tech, to semiconductors; The Chinese-American community; Academia, and state and local governments; and Our foreign partners around the world."
Speaking further in the conference, he said, "Today, every one of those partners is awake and alert to that threat in a way that just wasn't always true five years ago."
"And our success bringing more and more partners to this fight highlights something else important: Beijing may think our adherence to the rule of law is a weakness, but they're wrong. We're disrupting Chinese government criminality and aggression not just while adhering to our values, but by adhering to our values."
He added, "Our democratic and legal processes arm us with weapons China doesn't have--among others, real partners and allies. And our partnerships help protect the American people every day. Today's cases are no different--we couldn't have accomplished this work without our foreign partners, and the U.S. academic community, in particular."
Underlining that Beijing practises hypocrisy, he said the type of CCP hypocrisy on display in our Fox Hunt case today -- yet another case where Chinese government officials and co-conspirators mercilessly harassed a naturalized US citizen to try to force him to return to China against his will.
"They accused the victim in this case of embezzling money, but two of the subjects who targeted him--two of the defendants charged today--are themselves actually involved in a scheme to launder millions of dollars. As if that weren't enough evidence that the real purpose of their operation was political, they gave their victim a deadline to return by: the 20th CCP Congress earlier this month. They're focused on repression, not law enforcement."
"But our partners also see the CCP's broader hypocrisy--the fact that while the CCP claims to stand for sovereignty and non-interference in other states' affairs, what the Chinese government actually does is interfere with sovereign governments around the world whenever doing so suits Beijing."
Finally, he urged any person or company being targeted or approached by the Chinese government to come to the FBI for help.
"No American citizen, resident, company, or university should battle this threat alone--and you don't have to. You can report information through your local FBI field office or online at tips.fbi.gov. And know our quarrel is exclusively with the Chinese government--not the Chinese people, and certainly not Chinese-Americans."
He congratulated all the FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff who have worked on these cases.