Donald Trump authorized a secret CIA operation as president to undermine the Chinese government by spreading negative information about Xi Jinping's administration and leaking intelligence to foreign media. The CIA operatives, under fake identities, spread claims that Chinese Communist Party members were stashing wealth overseas and criticized China's Belt and Road Initiative as corrupt. The former officials claimed that the narratives they promoted were factual yet released secretly to instigate a sense of paranoia among Chinese leadership and to distract and drain resources.