Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo published an article in The Wall Street Journal, stating that Beijing’s anti-Western espionage activities are accelerating, with their depth and danger surpassing that of the Soviet Union in the 20th century.
Pompeo, who served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Secretary of State during President Trump’s first term, witnessed first-hand these secret activities by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
He pointed out, “From publicly available information, these actions have been further accelerating over the past four years.”
The latest example is CCP-supported hackers infiltrating the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Furthermore, CCP-supported hackers breached U.S. telecommunications networks during the 2024 presidential election, conducting communication surveillance on the campaign teams of both parties’ candidates. Recent reports also indicate that a CCP hacker group called “Volt Typhoon” implanted malicious software in critical infrastructure in Guam, attempting to disrupt communication between the U.S. and Asia in the event of conflict with Taiwan. This organization also breached sensitive U.S. military networks in Guam.
Pompeo emphasized that for a long time, the U.S. underestimated the scale and related risks of Beijing’s secret operations. The CCP has deeply infiltrated key U.S. networks and infrastructure, posing a threat to Americans and increasing the risk of war, highlighting dangerous vulnerabilities in U.S. national security.
He added that beyond cyber intrusions, the CCP advances its malicious goals by bribing and threatening American citizens, establishing a vast network of influence in the U.S.
“These attacks are part of their strategic actions to undermine Western stability and prepare for war in Beijing,” Pompeo wrote. “To protect America, the Trump administration must establish a sufficiently large-scale counterintelligence and counter-espionage capability to counter the threat from the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pompeo proposed that U.S. federal and state officials emphasize reciprocity when dealing with China.
“If U.S. entities are barred from investing in sectors deemed to have national security risks by China, we should not allow Chinese entities to invest in areas that may pose risks to us, such as permitting Chinese entities to buy land near our military bases,” he wrote.
“If U.S. companies conducting business in China must agree to technology transfers and accept CCP oversight, Chinese companies should also be subject to stricter regulation when doing business in the U.S.”
“If our diplomats are not free to engage in private exchanges with Chinese citizens, we should not allow Chinese officials to engage in similar exchanges with citizens in the U.S.”
“If fewer than 1,000 American students study at Chinese universities each year, we should not issue visas to nearly 300,000 Chinese students, especially considering some are involved in scientific espionage, intellectual property theft, and other hostile activities.”
Pompeo also suggested that on the first day of Trump’s presidency, the Department of Justice should revive the halted counterintelligence program “China Initiative” to remove CCP malicious activities in the U.S.
He stressed that the current economic vulnerabilities of China, coupled with Xi Jinping’s increasingly stringent policies, have increased the number of disaffected Chinese citizens willing to cooperate with the U.S.
“Beijing is willing to invest significant resources to establish influence networks inside our borders, and we must be prepared to do the same,” he said.
Pompeo concluded by stating, “Only when we recognize Beijing’s ideological hostility towards the U.S. and its ambition to replace the U.S. as the world’s major power, can America be secure.”
“We should take the Chinese (CCP) threat as seriously as we did with the Soviet threat during the Cold War. Now is the time for Washington to seriously engage in this conflict that Beijing has long since initiated,” he wrote.