CIA director Gina Haspel and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Picture: AFP
The US is facing a joint threat to national security from an increasingly aligned China and Russia as both countries seek to undermine democracy and build military superiority.
The blunt warning was delivered by US intelligence agencies in Washington as they grapple with aggressive attempts by Beijing and Moscow to steal secrets from the US and influence its elections.
Delivering the US intelligence community’s annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said China and Russia were more aligned now than at any point since the mid-1950s, the height of the Cold War.
He said Beijing and Moscow were pouring money into a “race for technological and military superiority” that would define the 21st century.
Although America’s traditional military operations remain generally unmatched, both adversaries have increasingly relied on cyber theft, espionage and online influence campaigns to achieve political and economic gain, while expanding their capabilities for disruptive cyber operations, the assessment found.
As China and Russia seek to exert more influence regionally and globally, alliances between the US and its Western allies have weakened, the report said. “Some US allies and partners are seeking greater independence from Washington in response to their perceptions of changing US policies on security and trade,” it said.
The US intelligence agencies also delivered a blistering warning about China’s efforts to undermine Western democracy through military brinkmanship and cyberwar, including the bullying of Pacific island nations in Australia’s backyard.
The assessment, which zeroed in on the multiple ways in which China is seeking to undermine the West, came a day after the US unveiled charges against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for stealing trade secrets.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-spy-chief-warns-russiachina-alliance-threat-to-security/news-story/a2a45c86cc8507f7cf894c495ed97469
