CHINA/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “China accused US Vice President Mike Pence of slandering the country with ‘baseless’ allegations Friday {10-5-18], after he delivered a scathing speech in Washington claiming Beijing was trying to covertly influence US politics for its own political gain. Pence launched his full-throated attack in a speech to the Hudson Institute, accusing China of everything from predatory economic practices to military aggression to advance Chinese interests at the expense of the current world order…Beijing quickly responded in a statement Friday, accusing Pence of ‘malicious slander’ and urging the US to ‘correct its wrongdoing’…A senior official in the Trump administration official told reporters that Pence’s speech reflects a US decision to take a more assertive approach in dealing with China that is more ‘constructive and results oriented.’ The official said the re-evaluation came after China failed to respond as expected to the offer of greater political engagement by improving human rights and relaxing restrictions on markets and intellectual property.”
-Joshua Berlinger and Steven Jiang, “China says Pence’s allegations of meddling created ‘out of thin air’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 4, 2018 12:02 am