Former US secretary of state and potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton accused China on Saturday of stealing commercial secrets and “huge amounts of government information,” and of trying to “hack into everything that doesn’t move in America.”
Clinton’s language on China appeared to be far stronger than that usually used by US President Barack Obama’s administration.
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Clinton said she wanted to see China’s peaceful rise.
“But we also have to be fully vigilant, China’s military is growing very quickly, they’re establishing military installations that again threaten countries we have treaties with, like the Philippines, because they are building on contested property,” Clinton said. “They’re also trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America. Stealing commercial secrets ... from defense contractors, stealing huge amounts of government information, all looking for an advantage.”
Clinton is the front-runner to win the Democratic nomination for the US presidential election in November next year.
Asked about the remarks, a White House official declined to comment.
In the most recent case involving suspicions of Chinese hacking, Obama administration officials have said China is the top suspect in the massive hacking of a US government agency that compromised the personnel records of at least 4.2 million current and former government workers.
China has denied hacking into the computers of the US Office of Personnel Management.
Clinton also addressed the current talks over Iran’s nuclear program and had strong words for Tehran.
Even if a deal is reached with Iran, Tehran’s “aggressiveness will not end” and it will remain a principal state sponsor of terrorism, she said.
Clinton said she hoped that “a strong verifiable deal” would be reached at talks in Vienna between world powers and Iran.
“[Even with an agreement] they will continue to be the principal state sponsor of terrorism. They will continue to destabilize governments in the region and beyond. They will continue to use their proxies like Hezbollah and they will continue to be an existential threat to Israel,” she said.
The US, other world powers and Iran have set a deadline for tomorrow to reach a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy, she said.
The US has to be “much smarter” about how it deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s territorial ambitions, she said at the event.
Putin’s moves to expand Russia’s boundaries, such as the annexation of Crimea last year, pose a challenge for the US, but she touted her experience as the countries top diplomat.
She said that because of NATO members’ agreement to protect fellow members, had Ukraine been a member of NATO when Crimea was annexed, “that would have caused us to have to respond.”
“I’ve dealt with him. I know him. He’s not an easy man ... but I don’t think there is any substitute other than constant engagement,” she said of Putin.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS