US Intelligence Chief Calls China Greatest Threat Since World War II

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th December, 2020) China is the greatest global threat since the end of World War II, US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said in an opinion-editorial piece published on Thursday.

"If I could communicate one thing to the American people... it is that the People's Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II," Ratcliffe wrote in the piece published in The Wall Street Journal.

Ratcliffe pointed to intelligence indicating that China's ultimate goal is global economic, military and technological domination and warned that a bipartisan response is needed to curb Beijing's growing influence.

China not only inflicts $500-billion worth of economic damage to the United States through intellectual property theft but uses the stolen technology to supplant US businesses across the world, Ratcliffe said.

US intelligence community is shifting resources - to the tune of $85 billion - to counter the threat posed by China and is embarking on a culture shift with previous generations of intelligence apparatchiks having devoted the bulk of their attention to the Cold War with the Soviet Union or the War on Terrorism, he added.