Trump given 'intelligence' brief on Chinese bounties

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump was briefed last month about intelligence reports that China had offered to pay bounties to fighters in Afghanistan who attacked US soldiers there, but the information was uncorroborated and comes months after Mr Trump dismissed as a "hoax" a Central Intelligence Agency assessment that Russia had paid for such attacks.

It is unclear whether the intelligence on China shows that any bounties were paid or whether any attacks on US personnel were even attempted. US intelligence agencies collect enormous amounts of information, much of which turns out to be false or misleading.

The information, included in the President's written briefing on Dec 17 and relayed verbally by National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, was reported by news website Axios and confirmed by US officials. It comes at a time when Trump administration officials, including Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, have sought to put more pressure on China, partly in the hope of limiting any plans by the incoming Biden administration to ease tensions with Beijing.

Mr Trump, Mr Ratcliffe and other officials have also sought to direct attention towards Chinese misbehaviour in areas where other US officials consider Russia to be a greater threat, including computer hacking and the use of disinformation to disrupt American politics.

After the disclosure last month that the US government had been subjected to a huge cyberbreach which US officials confidently attributed to Russia, Mr Trump angrily cast doubt on that notion and sought to implicate Beijing, saying on Twitter that "it may be China".

The Axios report said the underlying intelligence on the bounties would be declassified, but it was unclear why or for whom. White House officials would not elaborate but did not dispute that it was uncorroborated.

Although tensions between the United States and China have escalated during the Trump era, Beijing is not known to provide substantial support to anti-American proxies in combat zones like Afghanistan. Some US national security experts were also sceptical Beijing would support attacks on Americans but many saw similar reports about Russian bounties to be credible.

Months before the report involving China, the Pentagon and US intelligence were probing reports that Russian military intelligence agents had offered to pay Taleban-linked fighters in Afghanistan for the killing of US soldiers there. Mr Trump publicly dismissed it as "fake news" and an extension of the "Russia hoax".

NYTIMES