US intelligence warns of China military aggression

2023-03-08

US intelligence warns China is building HUNDREDS of new missile sites, producing more WMDs, making weapons that can shoot down satellites and want a military that can take on the U.S. in a ‘large-scale, sustained conflict’

U.S. intelligence is looking at a plethora of new threats from China
Includes nuclear launchers, weapons of mass destruction, space missiles
Tensions also increasing with China over Taiwan

U.S. intelligence is looking at a plethora of new threats from China, including an increase in nuclear launchers, more threats to Taiwan, space-based missiles, and bolstering its capabilities for Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The assessment comes amid increased tensions between Washington and Beijing, which have gotten worse in the wake of the spy balloon China sent over the U.S. and reports Xi Jinping is considering lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s budget proposal includes an unprecedented increase in funding for the Pentagon during a time of peace – $835 billion, up from the $816 billion in the current budget.

The extra money is due to escalating tensions with China, which the Pentagon sees as a challenger to U.S. military leadership.

U.S. intelligence is looking at a plethora of new threats from China

The budget includes significant funding of long-range Air Force and Navy munitions that could be used in a potential future conflict with China, an official told Bloomberg News.

The Pentagon has warned Congress that China now has more land-based intercontinental-range missile launchers than the U.S.

‘The number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers in China exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States,’ the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear forces, wrote the Senate’s and House’s Armed Services Committees on Jan. 26.

Beijing is also looking at space-based weapons, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which released its annual threat assessment on Wednesday.

‘China also has conducted orbital technology demonstrations, which while not counterspace weapons tests, prove China’s ability to operate future space-based counterspace weapons,’ it noted.

Biden’s administration is weighing how to respond. The U.S. has a greater nuclear arsenal than Beijing as it also keeps a close eye on Russia’s nuclear forces.

But the president’s budget request includes $170 billion for weapons procurement and $145 billion for research and development with much of that going to new fighter planes as officials remain wary of China’s muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.

Taiwan is proving another point of tension between the two superpowers.

China has warned Taiwan that it will take even more aggressive ‘counter measures’ than last summer’s large-scale military drills if President Tsai Ing-wen meets with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California next month.

McCarthy confirmed the meeting will take place when Tsai is at the Ronald Reagan Library to give a speech in April.

‘I will, when she’s in America,’ he said. ‘But that has nothing to do with my travel and if I would go to Taiwan or not, and China can’t tell me where or when to go.’

But his actions ‘will inevitably cause new tensions across the Taiwan strait, and China’s countermeasures may be even more decisive than those seen during [former US House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s last visit to the island,’ Chinese state media said on Wednesday.

China staged wide-scale military drills last August when Pelosi visited Taiwan and met Tsai, including shooting missiles over the island in a show of force, sending warships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and simulating a blockade of Taiwan with multiday military exercises near the island.

In the past few weeks, China has shown its might to Taiwan – sending 25 warplanes and three warships toward the island.

Biden, in response, approved the sale of hundreds of missiles for F-16 fighter jets to the island.

Taiwan has upgraded its fleet of 141 F-16 fighter jets and has ordered 66 more of the planes from the U.S.

China is looking at space-based missile technology, the Office of National Intelligence warns

‘The number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers in China exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States’ – Congress was warned (above a missile silo under construction in north-central China)

China is also increasing its capabilities for Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday released its 2023 annual threat assessment.

It warned that China may build on its actions from 2022, and include more Taiwan Strait centerline crossings or missile overflights of Taiwan.

‘In 2023, Beijing will continue to apply pressure and possibly offer inducements for Taiwan to move toward unification and will react to what it views as increased U.S.–Taiwan engagement,’ the assessment read.

‘Beijing claims that the United States is using Taiwan as a ‘pawn’ to undermine China’s rise, and will continue to take stronger measures to push back against perceived increases in support to Taiwan. Beijing may build on its actions from 2022, which could include more Taiwan Strait centerline crossings or missile overflights of Taiwan.’

The U.S., like many other countries, does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by U.S. law to provide it with the means to defend itself.

Washington has long used a policy of ‘strategic ambiguity,’ meaning it does not make clear whether it would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.

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