A CIA Note reproduces selected sensitive reporting disseminated from 2018 through 2020 about alleged PRC political and economic influence approaches toward the United States, while warning that it is not a comprehensive summary.
Compilation of reporting, not a comprehensive finding
The note says it contains portions of sensitive PRC-related reporting disseminated between 2018 and 2020 and expressly disclaims comprehensiveness. Its bullets should therefore be read as summarized reporting claims, not as independently established final findings.
“The following contains portions of sensitive reporting that was disseminated between 2018 and 2020 related to the People's Republic of China (PRC).”
One mid-2018 reporting item alleged that Chinese Communist Party policy sought to use domestic and foreign opponents of the incumbent U.S. President to reduce his votes, prompt his resignation, or prevent reelection. This is presented by the note as sensitive reporting rather than a separately reasoned CIA assessment.
“the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. President in an effort to reduce the U.S. President's votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election.”
Another mid-2018 item alleged that China analyzed the 2016 election to identify supportive states and economic sectors, then considered tariffs on those sectors' exports to induce their representatives to lobby the President. The reported mechanism was economic pressure, not an allegation that voting systems were altered.
“China was analyzing the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections and identifying U.S. states who voted for the U.S. President.”
A separate item alleged that the Chinese government used invitations, speaking fees, premium travel, and accommodation to cultivate influential U.S. individuals it believed could advance Chinese interests with senior officials. The note describes the goal as making U.S. corporations or individuals dependent on access to China and then using financial leverage on tariff policy.
“China regularly extended invitations to influential U.S. individuals to travel to China for speaking engagements for which they were paid significant speaking fees, along with first-class travel and accommodation.”
Reported swing-state, business, and media pressure in 2019
The note says mid-2019 reporting recommended unspecified additional resources for political swing states and pressure on financial supporters of the President's reelection campaign. A separate item alleged efforts to use Chinese contracts to influence U.S. business leaders and to pay journalists who had written negatively about the President to produce more such articles.
“direct additional, unspecified resources toward political swing states”
“The strategy included efforts to use Chinese contracts with big U.S. companies to influence U.S. business leaders to turn against the U.S. President.”