The CIA is concerned that China's military build up could tilt the cross-strait military balance against Taiwan, and at the same time pose an increased threat to the US, the new CIA director, Porter Goss, told Congress Wednesday.
Goss also warned that Beijing is prepared to attack Taiwan if it feels the country's moves toward formal independence go too far.
PHOTO: AFP
Goss made his comments during an appearance before the Senate intelligence committee, in an annual report by the US intelligence agencies to Congress on the national security threats facing the US.
It was Goss' first appearance at the annual intelligence assessment session since becoming head of the CIA last September.
Before that, he sat on the other side of the congressional hearing table as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 1997, until he was chosen by US President George W. Bush to head the spy agency.
"Beijing's military modernization and military build-up could tilt the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait," Goss told the lawmakers. "Improved Chinese capabilities threaten US forces in the region."
Goss noted that last year China increased its ballistic missile forces across from Taiwan and rolled out several new submarines.
"China continues to develop more robust, survivable nuclear-armed missiles, as well as conventional capabilities for use in regional conflict," he warned.
On Taiwan's recent political developments, Goss pointed to the nation's planned constitutional reforms and "other attempts to strengthen local identity."
"Beijing judges these moves to be a `timeline for independence.' If Beijing decides that Taiwan is taking steps toward permanent separation that exceeds Beijing's tolerance, we assess China is prepared to respond with varying levels of force," Goss told the senators.
On a broader level, China is increasingly confident and active on the international stage to secure a stronger voice in major international issues, countering what it sees as US efforts to counter and encircle it, and securing access to natural resources, Goss said.
He also pointed to a number of domestic challenges that President Hu Jintao (
In response to Goss' report, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that the threat that China's military build-up posed for the region was inevitable.
"We haven't seen the entire text of the CIA's report, but from our ongoing exchange of opinions with the US, it's clear that China poses a threat to the entire region, including Japan, South Korea and, of course, Taiwan," MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (
While Chiu refrained from commenting on whether the recent string of events could be interpreted as the US' response in opposition to China's proposed anti-secession bill, he remarked that the bill clearly ran counter to the US' stance on the matter.
"Neither China's military buildup nor its anti-secession law meets the US' requirements," Chiu said, explaining that the US wanted to see peaceful settlement between Taiwan and China, and as such opposed any moves to unilaterally change the status quo.
"Under these circumstances, the US will naturally be concerned about the law and opposed to it as well," Chiu said.
A senior government official said, however, that the US could not oppose Beijing's legislation now, as the bill's exact text had yet to be disclosed.
"Diplomatically, the US cannot oppose a bill they have not seen yet," the official said.
The MAC has been pushing for the international community to intervene on Taiwan's behalf. International pressure will have an effect on the content and passage of the bill, Chiu said.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS