US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he could not discuss — in open session — Chinese military expansion and its impact on Taiwan.
He offered to give some details at a future meeting to be held in secret.
Clapper and US Defense Intelligence Agency Director-General Vincent Stewart were testifying on worldwide security threats.
Photo: AFP
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said that the US’ partners in the Asia-Pacific region, “especially Taiwan,” were growing uneasy about China’s anti-access and area denial strategies, and he asked for an update.
“I can’t go into a great deal of detail here, but the Chinese embarked on an extremely impressive military modernization program across the board,” Clapper said. “Their modernization program is deliberately designed to counteract or thwart what they feel are our strengths. I can certainly go into more detail, if you like, in a classified setting.”
Manchin said he understood that China was quickly expanding its military modernization.
“They are, and they also are getting more and more into the realm of indigenously designing and producing things rather than relying on others, notably the Russians,” Clapper said.
The US Senate hearing was called in part to discuss a Worldwide Threat Assessment for this year, released by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
That document said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is building a modern military capable of defending China’s “core interests.”
“China views these to include Taiwan, and other contested claims to land and water,” it said. “They are also augmenting more than 1,200 conventional short-range ballistic missiles deployed opposite Taiwan with a limited, but growing number of conventionally armed, medium-range ballistic missiles, including the DF-16, which will improve China’s ability to strike regional targets.”
It said China is deploying growing numbers of DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles and developing a tiered ballistic missile defense system, having successfully tested the upper-tier capability on two occasions.
The assessment said that the South China Sea remains a potential flashpoint and that large-scale Chinese construction there had increased tensions.
China also twice deployed submarines to the Indian Ocean last year, it said.
“The submarines probably conducted area familiarization to form a baseline for increasing China’s power projection,” it said. “China continues production of JIN-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. We expect China to conduct its first nuclear deterrence patrols this year.”
In his opening statement to the committee, Clapper said that “unpredictable instability” is the new normal.
“The year 2014 saw the highest rate of political instability since 1992, the most deaths as a result of state sponsored mass killing since the early 1990s, and the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons since World War II,” Clapper said.
He said that roughly half of the world’s stable countries are at some risk of instability over the next two years.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS