China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday.
The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations.
In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named.
Photo: CNA
Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat to US national security,” the report said, adding that China was more “cautious” than Russia, Iran and North Korea about appearing “too aggressive and disruptive.”
Beijing’s “coercive pressure” against Taiwan and “wide-ranging cyberoperations against US targets” were indicators of its growing threat to US national security, the report said.
“China’s military is fielding advanced capabilities, including hypersonic weapons, stealthy aircraft, advanced submarines, stronger space and cyberwarfare assets, and a larger arsenal of nuclear weapons,” US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in testimony about the report to the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
While China would like to maintain positive ties with the US, it is also building up its military capabilities, in part “to gain advantage in the event of a military conflict with the United States” over China’s efforts toward unification with Taiwan, Gabbard said.
The report warned that a conflict between China and Taiwan would disrupt US access to trade and semiconductor technology critical to the global economy.
“Even without US involvement in such a conflict, there would likely be significant and costly consequences to US and global economic and security interests,” it said.
China is likely making “steady, but uneven” progress on capabilities it would use to seize Taiwan and deter or defeat US military intervention, it said.
Beijing would continue to pressure Taiwan with “economic coercion” and would probably increase it if it sees Taiwan taking steps toward formal independence, the report said.
Among possible moves by China to boost its coercion tactics were suspending preferential tariff terms, selectively banning Taiwanese imports and arbitrarily enforcing regulations, it said.
Despite its growing capabilities, China also faces “daunting” challenges, including corruption, demographic imbalances, and fiscal and economic struggles, which would impair its leaders’ strategic and political achievements, the report said.
China would keep expanding its “coercive and subversive malign influence activities” to weaken the US internally and globally, it said.
The Chinese government would seek to counter what it sees as a “US-led campaign to tarnish Beijing’s global relations and overthrow” the Chinese Communist Party, it added.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net