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.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
RSS