Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Palestinian platforms: Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under the protection of the occupation police
Palestinian platforms: The IOF detonated a booby-trapped robot east of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City
Syrian Defense: We call on all parties in Sweida to cooperate with security forces and exercise restraint
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese Army is continuing its investigations and will later announce any information that does not affect the confidentiality of the investigation
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: It has not yet been determined whether the detainees belong to ISIS or another organization
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Around 10 people of different nationalities, including Lebanese nationals, were detained
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese army arrested a number of people in the Matn area of Mount Lebanon with possession it has not disclosed
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: We have strong indications that there are martyrs, injuries, and trapped people in the Salah al-Din area
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Citizens should avoid Salah al-Din Street because anyone who approaches it is at risk of being directly targeted
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Reality is that there is a very limited retreat of the vehicles, with the occupation forces providing cover undeer fire up to Salah al-Din Street

Trump launched CIA covert operation against China: Reuters

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 14 Mar 2024 17:34
  • 4 Shares
5 Min Read

Three former officials reveal that the CIA formed a small team of spies who used fictitious online identities to build bad narratives about Xi Jinping's government.

  • x
  •  Trump launched CIA covert operation against China: Reuters
    Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka Japan in June 2019. (AP)

Former US officials with insider knowledge revealed to Reuters that former President Donald Trump allowed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to launch a covert operation on Chinese social media to turn public sentiment against the Chinese government.

Three former officials divulged that the CIA formed a small team of spies who used fictitious online identities to build bad narratives about Xi Jinping's government while leaking damaging material to foreign media. The endeavor, which began in 2019, had not previously been publicized.

The CIA team, as detailed to Reuters, fanned charges that members of the government were sheltering ill-gotten money overseas and blasted China's Belt and Road Initiative, which provides finance for building projects in underdeveloped countries, as corrupt and inefficient.

Chasing ghosts

The activities within China were designed to instill fear among top authorities, pushing the government to devote resources to tracking incursions into Beijing's carefully regulated internet, according to two former officials. "We wanted them chasing ghosts," one of the former officials explained.

The program, its intentions, or impacts were not commented on by Chelsea Robinson, a CIA spokesperson.

Meanwhile, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated the CIA program demonstrates how the US government exploits "public opinion space and media platforms as weapons to spread false information and manipulate international public opinion."

Read more: CovertAction Mag: How China dismantled CIA ploys

The program was a response to China's increased technological advancements in recent years, prompting Trump to develop harsh criticism of the nation.

A current administration official could not confirm to Reuters if the program was still in effect, but intelligence historians revealed that CIA covert operations usually remain in place throughout administrations when the authority is granted by the President.

China’s Foreign Ministry reported that Beijing follows a “principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and does not interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States.”

Other sources told Reuters that the operation allowed the CIA to not only be active in China but other nations where the US wishes to influence public opinion, like Southeast Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific.

Related News

Trump approves Patriot missiles to Ukraine, bills EU for costs

Russia slams US-Denmark military pact as threat to its security

Officials with knowledge of the CIA plan reported that Matt Pottinger, a former senior National Security Council official orchestrated the authorization, which cited China's use of "malign influence", accusations of intellectual property theft, and alleged threats to US national security.

Loch Johnson, a University of Georgia political scientist who studies the use of covert messaging, revealed that the US has always used such tactics as in the Cold War and the 1950s.

Last month, the Associated Press obtained a memo detailing a years-long covert Operation Money Badger by the US Drug Enforcement Administration that sent undercover operatives into Venezuela to secretly record and build alleged drug-trafficking cases against the country's leadership; a plan the US acknowledged from the very beginning was potentially a violation of international law.

Critics fear the CIA's actions may reinforce what many nations already believe: the US is the embodiment of hypocrisy. After all, nobody meddles in foreign nations and then denounces it on their own soil quite like them.

The CIA; a covert army of mayhem across the world

Last month, Jeffrey Sachs revealed in an opinion piece for Common Dreams that the CIA has 3 major problems that disregard foreign policy and international law. According to Sachs, the CIA's aims and tactics, along with its covert methods and deceptive strategies, ensure a lack of accountability.

He calls Congress a "doormat" and notes that the agency's objectives are whatever the CIA and president determine at the time, irrespective of international and domestic law.

Sachs recalls Mike Pompeo's comments when he admitted, as CIA director, that the agency "lied, cheated, and stole."

The CIA, founded in 1947, has two main missions. One is to provide intelligence to the US government, while the other is to undermine whoever is considered an "enemy" by the current President, by a variety of techniques, including assassinations, coups, manufactured disturbances, arming of rebels, and other methods.

Sachs notes that the second objective has had a destructive impact on global stability and the rule of law in the US. He calls the CIA a covert army of the US "capable of creating mayhem across the world with no accountability whatsoever."

He recalls how former President Dwight Eisenhower orchestrated the 1961 assassination of African president Patrice Lumumba of Zaire.

No attempts to hold CIA accountable

Sachs details the many operations of the CIA in Afghanistan, Serbia, Russia, China, and Syria and how for the last 20 years, it has been "deeply involved in fomenting the growing catastrophe in Ukraine," which is not limited to the overthrowing of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 that triggered a "decade of bloodshed" leading up to the war with Russia.

Sachs expresses that the "continuing mayhem" from CIA operations has resulted in "needless deaths, instability, and destruction" that continue to this day.

He criticizes mainstream media for not questioning or investigating such operations and demanding the release of data that allows the CIA to be held accountable.

The author calls for the urgent need to expose the truth about the "US-led mayhem" and attempt to start a new epoch in which US foreign policy is more "transparent, accountable, subject to the rule of law both domestic and international, and directed towards global peace rather than subversion of supposed enemies."

  • Donald Trump
  • China
  • Xi Jinping
  • US President Joe Biden
  • United States
  • CIA

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Major ambush in Gaza kills 6 Israeli troops, injures dozens

Major ambush in Gaza kills 5 Israeli troops, injures 14

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Israeli soldiers are seen in Beit Hanoun ahead of an operation by the al-Qassam Brigades, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)

'Israel' on blast as media exposes report discrepancies in Gaza ambush

  • Palestine
  • 8 Jul 2025
Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
The Freedom Flotilla ship Handala as it departs for Gaza, where it aims to break the maritime blockade at a port in Syracuse, Sicily in southern Italy on July 13, 2025. (AFP)
Palestine

Freedom Flotilla's Handala departs Sicily in bid to break Gaza siege

The container ship CMA CGM Laperouse, left, docks at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, Ga (AP)
Politics

US shipbuilding woes deepen as tariffs, outdated policies backfire

Gaza war raises ethical questions for ex-Obama, Biden officials
Politics

Mercenary firm tied to Gaza war crimes hires Obama-Biden PR operatives

'Israel' targets children in Gaza collecting water
Palestine

'Israel' strikes Gaza kids fetching water, blames it on 'malfunction'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS