US has once again sounded alarms about China with an assessment that underscores the growing tension between the two global powers.

According to a new report by US intelligence agencies, China remains the United States’ top military and cyber threat.

The Annual Threat Assessment by the intelligence community asserted that China has the ability to hit the United States with conventional weapons, compromise US infrastructure through cyber-attacks, and target its assets in space.

Released ahead of testimony before the Senate intelligence committee by Donald Trump’s intelligence chiefs, the report stated that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) probably planned to use large language models to create fake news, imitate personas and enable attack networks.

It added that China almost certainly has a multifaceted, national-level strategy designed to displace the United States as the world’s most influential AI power by 2030.

Labeling Beijing as Washington’s “most capable strategic competitor,” Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told the committee that China’s military is “fielding advanced capabilities,” including hypersonic weapons, stealth aircraft, advanced submarines, stronger space and cyberwarfare assets and a larger arsenal of nuclear weapons.

CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, also told the Senate committee that China had made only “intermittent” efforts to curtail the flow of precursor chemicals fueling the US fentanyl crisis due to its reluctance to crack down on lucrative Chinese businesses.

Trump has increased tariffs on all Chinese imports by 20% to punish Beijing for what he says is its failure to halt shipments of chemicals used to make fentanyl. “There is nothing to prevent China … from cracking down on fentanyl precursors,” Ratcliffe said.

China denies it plays a role in the crisis, which is the leading cause of US drug overdose deaths, but the issue has become a major point of friction between the Trump administration and Chinese officials.

US concerns about China dominated about a third of the 32-page report, which said Beijing was set to increase military and economic coercion toward Taiwan, the democratically governed island China claims as its territory. “The PLA probably is making steady but uneven progress on capabilities it would use in an attempt to seize Taiwan and deter – and if necessary, defeat – US military intervention,” it said.

Moreover, the report noted that Russia, along with Iran, North Korea and China, seeks to challenge the US through deliberate campaigns to gain an advantage, with Moscow’s war in Ukraine having afforded it a “wealth of lessons regarding combat against western weapons and intelligence in a large-scale war.”

Excuse To Maintain US Military Hegemony

Spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, averred that Washington has long “hyped up” the China threat as an excuse to maintain US military hegemony.

“China is determined to be a force for peace, stability and progress in the world, and also determined to defend our national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”
Liu Pengyu

Liu added that “fentanyl abuse is a problem that the United States itself must confront and resolve.”

The US intelligence report release also coincided with the Chinese publication of a report by the China Cybersecurity Industry Alliance, accusing US intelligence agencies of “large scale and longterm” phone and online network hacking. The report described incidents stretching back over a decade, but was pushed out widely by state media and government agencies.

Foreign ministry Spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, expressed “grave concern” at a regular press briefing.

Chinese Foreign ministry Spokesperson, Guo Jiakun.

“Over the years, the US has been accustomed to crying ‘stop thief’ on supply chain security issues, manipulating double standards, and vigorously hyping the so-called ‘5G supply chain security issues’, while cooperating with major internet companies or equipment suppliers in its own country to preinstall back doors in global information equipment products, serving its own network attack activities.”
Guo Jiakun