China’s schemes are poisoning every facet of American life — and could bend us to its will

President Donald Trump’s headline-grabbing revelation that China has stolen 220 million Americans’ voter records is only the tip of the iceberg.  

But what a tip: Chinese Communist Party servers now contain detailed dossiers — names, addresses, phone numbers, party affiliation and more — on you and me and most registered voters in the entire country. 

This treasure trove enables everything from covert voter profiling, microtargeting and psy-ops, to overt recruitment, identity theft and fraud.  

America woke up to China’s cyber espionage in 2015, when we learned Beijing had hacked Office of Personnel Management computers, stealing detailed security clearance forms for 22 million Americans (including mine). 

Cyberattacks on everything from our phone logs to our health records have only accelerated since; China probably now knows more about us than we know about ourselves.

But it gets worse: Beijing is after our kids, too.  

Tens of millions of them use TikTok, which is accused of vacuuming up their personal information while simultaneously influencing them: China good, America bad.  

If you wonder why your children oppose US actions in Iran, it’s because they’re on TikTok.

And who’d have thought agents of a hostile foreign power would have the chutzpah to become top aides to American governors, as Linda Sun allegedly did for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul?

STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST NEWS BY SUBSCRIBING TO MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER

Or to set up secret police stations on our soil?  

We shut down the CCP’s Manhattan station in Chinatown, but other secret police stations — disguised as community centers or cultural associations — continue to operate here.  

They’re watching over American citizens and permanent residents of Chinese descent, intimidating and harassing those who criticize Beijing’s might.

Pastor Bob Fu of Midland, Texas, is only one of many Chinese-Americans who have been targeted by China’s agents.  

After he spoke out against the persecution of Christians in China, crowds of demonstrators surrounded his house, shouting death threats, until the FBI intervened.

China is unfazed by the loss of a secret police station here, or a highly placed agent there.  

It continues to expand its efforts, run mainly through the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Works Department, to weaken and destabilize its chief adversary — the United States.

These efforts include the constant stream of Americans who, at China’s invitation and often on China’s dime, travel to the People’s Republic to be shown the wonders that “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” has wrought.  

Many, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have returned from such political pilgrimages gushing praise.  

American corporations doing business in China, and American universities taking millions in China-linked funding, are constantly pressured to promote CCP narratives and suppress criticism — and critics themselves.

Richard Gere’s Hollywood career took a major hit when he angered China by supporting Tibet.

And Stanford University parted company with me when my comments on China’s one-child policy so angered Beijing that it demanded I be “severely punished.”

United Front-linked groups operating in the US are so numerous that they specialize.  

Some target state and local governments, others local Chinese-American communities, still others business sectors or key professions. 

But the CCP is not content to play defense; it’s intent upon sowing societal chaos.  

State-linked networks like Spamouflage Dragon impersonate Americans on social media to stoke divisions.  

Other Chinese-controlled media, including newspapers and radio stations in the US, routinely post negative content about the United States.

It’s all meant to bend America to China’s will — suppressing criticism, capturing institutions and individuals and shaping perceptions and policies.  

And to prepare for war: Why else are China-linked agents buying land next to our most sensitive military bases?

As it is, China regularly engages in out-and-out subversion.  

During the Antifa riots of 2020, the Chinese consulate in Houston was shut down by the State Department after Chinese spies there had been caught recruiting agitators.

More recently, China-linked groups have been actively campaigning against data centers to hamstring American artificial intelligence and clear China’s path to AI dominance.

Chinese AI models — often connected to the PLA and trained on stolen American data — are already being used in predatory fashion, enabling China to vastly increase the sophistication, scale and speed of its hacking and cyber-espionage operations.

Allowing Chinese-made electric vehicles into the United States would expose us to rolling data-collection devices that could potentially be shut down, or even remotely controlled, from China.

In the age of AI, Americans are increasingly worried that Big Brother is watching them.  

They must instead realize that the Biggest Brother of all is based in Beijing — and that its ultimate goal is not just to influence elections, but to defeat and destroy American democracy itself. 

Steven W. Mosher is president of the Population Research Institute and the author of “The Devil and Communist China.”