US Asia-Pacific Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

The US is stepping up its China information monitoring network among its allies and partners by sending to Tokyo an official dedicated to perform such tasks, a first for Washington in East Asia. 

This is the latest move by the US in its drive to take China as its most critical strategic competitor, said Chinese analysts.

They warned that the US deployment has an important intention to facilitate not only the collection of intelligence on China, but also the more effective control of its ally system, which raises concern that the China-targeting information network would disrupt the normal economic, political and security relations between China and these US allies. 

They condemned the despicable intentions of the US to create division and conflict in the Asia-Pacific region by making China an opponent. 

Japanese media outlet Kyodo News, citing sources, reported on Saturday that the Joe Biden administration will deploy an official dedicated to monitoring Chinese governmental and business activities to the US Embassy in Tokyo in July.

The monitoring officers deployed by the US to allies are tasked with collecting and analyzing information regarding China's inroads into the region or country where they are based.

In addition to monitoring China's actions, the official will be in charge of promoting the establishment of supply chains for semiconductors and other vital goods that do not rely on China, the sources were quoted as saying.

According to Kyodo News, The official to be assigned to the Tokyo embassy will be affiliated with the unit formally called the Office of China Coordination, which is believed to be staffed with 60 to 70 members.

The unit is under the department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The official, who has experience working in China and Japan, is expected to serve a three-year term, Kyodo, citing the sources, reported.

Given that Japan is the most trusted or most controllable US ally in the Asia-Pacific region, US officials in Tokyo with the remit to monitor China are believed to be involved in various fields of intelligence work related to security, economic and political aspects in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Sending such an official to East Asia can facilitate the US to coordinate China-related information collection and utilize such information more quickly and effectively, Li said.

The dispatch is part of the Biden administration's efforts to reinforce intelligence gathering, Kyodo reported. 

The US Department of State has already added about 20 similar officials in charge of monitoring China to US embassies in other capitals, including Bangkok, Brussels, Rome and Sydney, media reported.

Li believes the goal of the US is to eliminate Chinese elements from all production and supply chains and value chains, all security institutional frameworks, as well as all influential economic structures dominated by the US.

In placing these officials in its allied countries, the US can disrupt the normal economic, political and security relations between China and these US allies, and instigate more crises and even possible conflicts in the region, Li said. He warned that this undoubtedly will bring great pressure to bear on the China policies of its allies.

The more they rely on the US, the more their fate will be a tragedy like that of the Ukraine, which is deeply bogged down in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Li warned.

To cope with the latest US move, China needs to continue to strengthen cooperation and coordination with those US allies, especially on economy, Li noted.