China 'more proactive and coercive' in meddling with US, says Mike Pence

US Vice President protests of Beijing's military fortress in the South China Sea and warns countries of China's 'debt diplomacy'

US Vice President Mike Pence said China is ramping up its meddling in US policies. Reuters

Mike Pence accused China of trying to undermine US President Donald Trump as the administration deploys tough new rhetoric over Chinese trade, economic and foreign policies.

In remarks released ahead of an appearance on Thursday at the Hudson Institute, the US Vice President said China is using its power in "more proactive and coercive ways to interfere in the domestic policies and politics of the United States."

"China wants a different American president," Mr Pence said.

Mr Pence's speech comes a week after Mr Trump accused China during a meeting of the UN Security Council of interfering in American elections to help his Democratic rivals.

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US-China ties

US says Chinese destroyer came dangerously close to American ship

Henry Paulson says China trade war risks long-term US pain 

Donald Trump: China is interfering in 2018 midterms at UN Security Council

Sergei Lavrov slams Donald Trump’s ‘belligerent revisionism’

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"Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election," Mr Trump said.

"They do not want me, or us, to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade." As proof, Mr Trump later referred to an advertising insert in The Des Moines Register by Chinese government-affiliated entities.

Mr Pence charges that China is targeting "industries and states that would play an important role in the 2018 election" as it responds to US trade tariffs on China. "By one estimate, more than 80 per cent of US counties targeted by China voted for President Trump in 2016; now China wants to turn these voters against our administration," Mr Pence is to say.

US intelligence agencies assess that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Mr Trump over Hillary Clinton through hacking and releasing sensitive documents and social media manipulation.

Donald Trump accused China of meddling in America's upcoming midterm elections. AFP

Mr Trump signed an executive order in September authorising sanctions against those found to be involved in election interference, but US officials have said repeatedly they have not seen nearly the same level of activity by Russia and others in the midterms as in 2016.

Much of Mr Pence's remarks are meant to inform the public of what the US government terms as China's covert and overt influence campaign.

Since Trump took office last year, his administration has escalated pressure on China, most recently with several rounds of tit-for-tat economic trade tariffs on hundreds of billions in goods. And Mr Trump's first national security strategy released last year labeled China a "revisionist power" alongside Russia.

In his prepared remarks, Mr Pence quotes an assessment from the US intelligence community that "China is targeting US, state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy. It's using wedge issues, like trade tariffs, to advance Beijing's political influence."

Mr Pence warns other nations to be wary of doing business with China, condemning the Asian country's "debt diplomacy" that allows it to draw developing nations into its orbit.

The vice president also warns American businesses to be vigilant against Chinese efforts to leverage access to their markets to modify corporate behavior to their liking.

He accused China of threatening "to deny a business license for a major US corporation if it refused to speak out against our administration's policies". Mr Pence asserts that China's actions surpass those of Russia in trying to shape American opinion.

He said an intelligence official told him that what "the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country".

An aerial view of uninhabited island of in The Spratlys. Mike Pence said China is building a fortress in the disputed South China Sea. Reuters

Mr Pence also protests Beijing's construction of military fortresses in the South China Sea as well as Chinese efforts to intercept American ships carrying out naval exercises designed to contest China's territorial expansion. He condemns a Chinese ship passing this week within about 40 meters of the USS Decatur, calling it "reckless harassment."

"The United States Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows and our national interests demand. We will not be intimidated; we will not stand down," he says.