Top spy warns Biden will face Chinese interference as soon as he enters the White House

While Team Biden vowed to stand by Australia in its row with China, the President-elect has been warned America has its own Beijing problems to worry about. William Evanina, director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said Chinese agents have already started targeting the incoming Biden administration, including “people close” to it. Mr Evanina said that he and his colleagues in the intelligence agency had expected the Chinese operation, which he described as being “on steroids.” The New York Post reported that the agency had “seen an uptick, which was planned and we predicted, that China would now revector their influence campaigns to the new administration,” he said. “And when I say that — that malign foreign influence, that diplomatic influence-plus or on steroids — we’re starting to see that play across the country to not only the folks starting in the new administration, but those who are around those folks,” he said. While he did not provide any specific examples of what the Chinese influence campaign consisted of, he pledged that his team would work with the incoming Biden administration to identify attacks. “That’s one area we’re going to be very keen on making sure the new administration understands that influence, what it looks like, what it tastes like, what it feels like when you see it,” Mr Evanina said. Efforts by the Chinese Communist Party come as President-elect Joe Biden has begun building out his administration and divulging his plans on domestic and foreign policy. Mr Biden has revealed that he planned to move very carefully on the issue of China and not make any sudden changes. He said he would not act immediately to abolish the 25 per cent tariffs President Trump placed on about 50 per cent of Chinese exports, or the phase one trade deal. Mr Biden also stressed that when dealing with China, it is all about “leverage”. The Chinese government may have a familiar face in the Biden administration: Brian Deese, who has been tapped as director of the National Economic Council. Upon his announcement as Biden’s pick, the Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, cheered at the news, according to The Post. It described Deese as someone who had understood “the sweetness of doing business with China.” Meanwhile, the firm founded by secretary of state nominee Antony Blinken and director of national intelligence nominee Avril Haines, WestExec Advisors, appears to have been stripping its website of any connections to the Chinese. The firm’s site, according to the Washington Free Beacon, has taken down pages where they showed their previous work “helping major American universities court donations in China without jeopardising Pentagon-funded research grants.” TEAM BIDEN VOWS USA WILL STAND BY AUSTRALIA AS CHINA ROW RAGES America will “will stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Australia” as it faces enormous pressure from China, a senior member of President-elect Joe Biden has declared. “The Australian people have made great sacrifices to protect freedom and democracy around the world,” tweeted Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s National Security Adviser. “As we have for a century, America will stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Australia and rally fellow democracies to advance our shared security, prosperity, and values.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison has received support from Five Eyes allies and beyond after he called out Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian’s posting of a fake photo depicting an Australian soldier holding a knife to an Afghan girl’s throat. CHINA-OWNED APP CENSORS MORRISON Australia has its views “clear” on the graphic image tweeted by a Chinese Government official and it is up to Beijing or social media giants to take down the graphic material, Scott Morrison says. The Chinese Government and Twitter have both refused to take down the image shared by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zho Lijian of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. However on Wednesday night Chinese-owned platform WeChat censored a post from the Prime Minister reaching out to show support to Chinese Australians in the wake of the dispute about the image. Asked if he was making “representations” to Twitter or WeChat about the image, Mr Morrison said it was a matter for the social media companies. “We have made our views clear on that and they can make an explanation of their action if they choose to make one,” he said. “What is important as the Australian government has made its views very clear on these issues.” Mr Morrison said Australia remained committed to “constructive and open” regular dialogue at a leader and ministerial level with China to address the tensions that are “clearly there in the relationship”. “Our national interests have been clearly articulated and our position is clearly understood,” he said. Mr Morrison had used WeChat to praise the contribution Chinese migrants had made to Australia, and also defend the nation after a Beijing official shared a meme of an Australian soldier preparing to slit the throat of an Afghan child. But WeChat eventually removed Mr Morrison’s content and replaced it with a message that claims it involved “the use of inciting, misleading, or contrary to objective facts, text, pictures, videos, etc.”. In the now censored posts, Mr Morrison said: “We acknowledge and greatly appreciate and value the contribution that generations of Chinese migrants have made to Australia,” “Migrants from China have been arriving in Australia for more than two hundred years and Australians of Chinese background have added immensely to our nation.” He also said Australia was a “free, democratic” county and would use an “honest and transparent process” to deal with the allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. “I am extremely proud of all Australians who pull a uniform on for Australia. I am proud of their service and of their dedication to keeping Australia and Australians safe. I am proud of their loyalty to our country and its values,” he said. “Where there are alleged events that have taken place that require action, well we have set up the honest and transparent processes for that to take place. That is what a free, democratic, liberal country does. “The post of a false image of an Australian soldier does not diminish our respect for and appreciation of our Chinese Australian community or indeed our friendship with the people of China.” WORLD URGED TO BUY AUSSIE WINE Countries around the world have urged their citizens to buy Australian wine in a show of solidarity against “intense pressure from the Chinese government”. Aussie wine will be the flavour of the month around the globe after Beijing slapped a 212 per cent tariff on our wine as tensions escalate between the two nations The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an alliance of 19 nations determined to combat Beijing’s influence, has launched a global campaign urging people to buy Australian wine “as the country withstands intense pressure from the Chinese government”. “IPAC leads global campaign to buy Australian wine in stand against Chinese government bullying,” the group said in a statement on their website. “The campaign was announced in a video featuring IPAC members calling on their compatriots to give up their usual national beverages in favour of Australian wine this December. “Those speaking in the video represent a diverse group of political allegiances, with US Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, German Green Party MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, Japanese Democrat Rep. Shiori Yamao and former leader of the UK Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP all included. “The video also features footage of Chinese Foreign Ministry Official Zhao Lijian, who earlier this week angered the Australian government by posting a fabricated image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of a child on social media. “The campaign is a response to the latest round of sanctions from the Chinese government on Australia, with the wine industry among the worst hit after the announcement of a tariff of up to 212 per cent on Australian wine producers last week.” UK politician Craig Mackinlay said the campaign would show Beijing that the world would not stand for China’s “bullying”. Lord David Alton, a member of the3 UK’s House of Lords, said the world needed to support “Australia’s courageous truth”. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is an international cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China. It is made up of global legislators and led by a group of co-chairs, who are senior politicians drawn from a representative cross-section of the world’s major political parties. IPAC represents more than 200 MPs from 19 countries. CHINESE ARTIST VOWS TO KEEP ON SLAMMING AUSTRALIA A Chinese graphic artist who created a doctored image of a grinning Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child said he would come up with another one after being “scolded,” according to a report. Fu Yu, who also is known as Qilin, created the fake image to criticise Australia, whose military recently released a shocking report describing war crimes by elite troops who allegedly killed 39 Afghan civilians, abc.net.au reported. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted the image on Twitter on Monday, prompting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to call it “truly repugnant” and demand an apology. Fu reacted to Morrison in a video shared by Chinese media on microblog site Weibo. “I get scolded by this Australian person called Morrison, and he demands my apology,” said Fu, who identified himself as the owner of Beijing Wuhe Culture and Creativity Co, the NewYork Post reported. “I feel sympathetic for him and fully understand Morrison’s feelings right now,” he added sarcastically. Fu, who described his work as an “effort to protect mankind,” also urged Morrison to “make sure his government’s military force becomes more disciplined to avoid any similar international tragedy.” He added: “He should put less effort on pressuring and condemning a fact-based artwork and an artist who is ordinary and from a foreign country. If I have energy tonight, I can make another artwork as my response.” Fu, who has called himself a “wolf-warrior artist,” created the controversial image on Nov. 22, abc.net.au reported, citing China’s state-owned media Global Times. He said he had a sense of “fury and trembling” after reading reports about elite Australian troops’ “brutal killing of 39 civilians” in Afghanistan, including an unsubstantiated account about how “soldiers cut the throat of two 14-year-old Afghan teenagers with knives.” The rumoured death of the two alleged Taliban sympathisers was not substantiated in the findings of the so-called Brereton report, according to abc.net.au. “I created this CG illustration based on my anger and shuddering. The artwork was simply created out of a sense of humanitarianism,” Fu wrote for the Global Times. “I hope that more people will see this painting and pay attention to this real tragedy,” Fu said, adding that he used an Australian flag to cover some bodies of Afghan civilians behind the soldier in the image.