CIA's New Unit To Step Up Spying Contest With China

CIA Director William Burns' announcement came after the CIA and FBI have unearthed dozens of cases of China recruiting US citizens to supply it classified or corporate proprietary information.

The US Central Intelligence Agency announced Thursday a new China-focused unit that underscored its view of Beijing as the country's toughest long-term adversary.

CIA Director William Burns said in a statement that the new China Mission Center will address the challenge China poses to all of the US spy agency's mission areas.

"CMC will further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese government," Burns said.

The announcement parallels the broader shift of the administration of President Joe Biden to confronting China as its leading "strategic competitor."