Miscellaneous News
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US CIA creates a new unit to focus solely on ‘key rival’ China
In announcing the unit, CIA Director William Burns calls the ‘increasingly adversarial Chinese government’ the United States’ top geopolitical threatUS President Joe Biden has said he is not seeking a ‘new Cold War’ but has largely maintained hardline China policies...
Reported by: Owen Churchill
The US Central Intelligence Agency announced the formation of a new “China Mission Centre” on Thursday, the latest sign of a deepening struggle with the country despite Washington’s assertions that it is not seeking a “new Cold War” with Beijing.
CIA Director William Burns said the centre would facilitate a whole-of-agency response to what he considers a “key rival”, according to a statement.
The unit will “further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century”, said Burns, a veteran diplomat. That threat, he said, was the “increasingly adversarial Chinese government”.
The initiative follows a string of new executive branch units dedicated to countering Beijing, coming in the wake of a China task force at the Pentagon and reports of a new “China house” at the Department of State.
As the administration of US President
has largely maintained the hardline China policies put in place by his predecessor, administration officials have stressed that the US does not want conflict with Beijing, with Biden telling the United Nations General Assembly in September that the US was not seeking a “new Cold War” with China.
But that assertion was complicated on Thursday, as one senior CIA official cited by The Washington Post likened the spy agency’s new mission centre to its response to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
China represents a greater threat than the Soviet Union, the official was reported as saying, given the scope of its economy, its global reach and its close economic ties with the US.
The CIA’s classification of China as a “key rival” and severe geopolitical threat is likely to anger Beijing. Chinese officials told their US counterparts in a high-level meeting on Wednesday that they rejected even the milder term of “competition” to define the bilateral relationship.
Those complaints have fallen on deaf ears in Washington, where State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that most of the administration’s engagement with Beijing was “predicated on this idea of competition – and in many cases – stiff competition. It is a relationship that is in some ways adversarial.”
But the administration’s goal was, Price continued, “to minimise these points of friction”.
At a time when US government initiatives targeting Beijing have drawn accusations from lawmakers and human rights groups of fuelling anti-Asian racism, Burns emphasised that the threat from China came from the Chinese government, not the country’s people.
Also announced on Thursday was a new “Transnational and Technology Mission Centre”, which the CIA said would address issues “critical to US competitiveness”, such as emerging technologies, economic security, climate change and global health.
Deputy CIA director David Cohen will oversee the changes to the agency’s structure.
The CIA’s plans to launch the new China mission centre were first reported by Bloomberg in August. The move comes after a review of the agency’s China policy begun by Burns this spring, similar to evaluations the Biden administration has carried out on other fronts, including trade and defence. Early in Biden’s administration, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin started a task force to examine US alliances, technology and intelligence as they relate to China, as well as the Pentagon’s military relations with Beijing.
In September, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the State Department planned to funnel resources and personnel into a new “China house” at the agency, which would task officers in Washington and overseas with monitoring Beijing’s activities in other countries.
The new CIA unit also follows the establishment during Donald Trump’s administration of the “China Initiative” at the Justice Department, an effort to increase China-related prosecutions in the fields of economic espionage.
That programme has drawn criticism from civil rights groups, who contend it has led to racial profiling of Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants and have urged the Biden administration to drop the initiative.
In announcing the unit, CIA Director William Burns calls the ‘increasingly adversarial Chinese government’ the United States’ top geopolitical threatUS President Joe Biden has said he is not seeking a ‘new Cold War’ but has largely maintained hardline China policies...
Reported by: Owen Churchill
The US Central Intelligence Agency announced the formation of a new “China Mission Centre” on Thursday, the latest sign of a deepening struggle with the country despite Washington’s assertions that it is not seeking a “new Cold War” with Beijing.
CIA Director William Burns said the centre would facilitate a whole-of-agency response to what he considers a “key rival”, according to a statement.
The unit will “further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century”, said Burns, a veteran diplomat. That threat, he said, was the “increasingly adversarial Chinese government”.
The initiative follows a string of new executive branch units dedicated to countering Beijing, coming in the wake of a China task force at the Pentagon and reports of a new “China house” at the Department of State.
As the administration of US President
has largely maintained the hardline China policies put in place by his predecessor, administration officials have stressed that the US does not want conflict with Beijing, with Biden telling the United Nations General Assembly in September that the US was not seeking a “new Cold War” with China.
But that assertion was complicated on Thursday, as one senior CIA official cited by The Washington Post likened the spy agency’s new mission centre to its response to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
China represents a greater threat than the Soviet Union, the official was reported as saying, given the scope of its economy, its global reach and its close economic ties with the US.
The CIA’s classification of China as a “key rival” and severe geopolitical threat is likely to anger Beijing. Chinese officials told their US counterparts in a high-level meeting on Wednesday that they rejected even the milder term of “competition” to define the bilateral relationship.
Those complaints have fallen on deaf ears in Washington, where State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday that most of the administration’s engagement with Beijing was “predicated on this idea of competition – and in many cases – stiff competition. It is a relationship that is in some ways adversarial.”
But the administration’s goal was, Price continued, “to minimise these points of friction”.
At a time when US government initiatives targeting Beijing have drawn accusations from lawmakers and human rights groups of fuelling anti-Asian racism, Burns emphasised that the threat from China came from the Chinese government, not the country’s people.
Also announced on Thursday was a new “Transnational and Technology Mission Centre”, which the CIA said would address issues “critical to US competitiveness”, such as emerging technologies, economic security, climate change and global health.
Deputy CIA director David Cohen will oversee the changes to the agency’s structure.
The CIA’s plans to launch the new China mission centre were first reported by Bloomberg in August. The move comes after a review of the agency’s China policy begun by Burns this spring, similar to evaluations the Biden administration has carried out on other fronts, including trade and defence. Early in Biden’s administration, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin started a task force to examine US alliances, technology and intelligence as they relate to China, as well as the Pentagon’s military relations with Beijing.
In September, Foreign Policy magazine reported that the State Department planned to funnel resources and personnel into a new “China house” at the agency, which would task officers in Washington and overseas with monitoring Beijing’s activities in other countries.
The new CIA unit also follows the establishment during Donald Trump’s administration of the “China Initiative” at the Justice Department, an effort to increase China-related prosecutions in the fields of economic espionage.
That programme has drawn criticism from civil rights groups, who contend it has led to racial profiling of Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants and have urged the Biden administration to drop the initiative.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Yes the lie that anyone the US military trains become Rambos. Fact is the casualties the US military inflicts on other countries come mostly from air support and stand-off weaponry. It doesn't come from man-to-man combat. The odds start to even when it does. Hollywood makes all these supposed true stories into movies of how a simple US military squad holds off an enemy army... yeah because Americans have air and artillery support. Maybe they think they can teach Taiwanese soldiers to use their assault rifles to intercept all those missiles that will be raining down on Taiwan. That alone is going to knock out Taiwan from being a part of the Western economic world order which is overall what they're worried about the most. They ain't going to be getting those chips.
Long before that even happens China can ruin their economic world order. The US today calling for recoupling instead of decouple shows how the US can't withstand the slightest trade disruption. The two are the same but they're facing a China that isn't surrendering as easily as they thought. The difference between China and the West is the West is more likely to dangerously gamble on things that they cannot afford to lose. They thought China needs them more than they need China so China will easily surrender if pushed.
In this case, PRC could very well ask for clarification if it really wants put Biden under the spotlight, as a way to assess just how much his administration really wants to thaw US-china relationship. The continued deployment of US special forces in non-diplomatic role in Taiwan has already shown "something changed". With today's news of CIA establishing new China center, F-35 flying off Japanese carriers during joint exercises, it's clear to me that Biden administration hasn't made any real effort into deescalation other than some vague "Taiwan agreement."
Biden is just continuing previous administrations' containment policy of China as it's only thing agreed by both sides of US congress. Under such circumstances, I find Japanese interpretation of US position reasonable. Of course you are within your right to doubt it.
Where is the crowd that claimed the US was trying to normalise relations? China shouldn't fall in for trap the West is trying to set up. The US has no intention to fullfil China's demands to normalise relations, they are just playing games. The release of Meng means nothing, the Anglos speak with a forked tongue, China should have no mercy.
LOL. Joe Tsai didn't give in even an inch to the host.
Maybe local vendors are beating dell. 5 years ago, he was all about China
Lol it was supposed to be a hard question to answer.... i would have loved to see the reaction of the interviewer while he was getting the answer to the hard one .... llollzz
This "article 5 covers Diaoyu island" was not new. Japan did that years ago once during Trump's time. China called US out, and U.S. said nothing "yes or no".
There is no point to make further pressure for a clearer clarification this time to repeat the whole circus. Diaoyu island is 2nd priority after Taiwan. No reason to show hand the 2nd round when the 1st is not done yet. The very reason Japan brought this up now is its way to interfere China's move on Taiwan, a distraction. China should not take the bait.