As we have reported, the Biden administration has vowed to keep a close eye on China after announcing a task force last month fully devoted to countering Beijing, which President Biden has called the U.S.’s most “serious competitor.”
Last Wednesday, William J. Burns, Biden’s pick to head the CIA, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that gathering intelligence on Beijing would be a top priority for the department, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Burns said, “That will mean intensified focus and urgency, continually strengthening its already impressive cadre of China specialists, expanding its language skills, aligning personnel and resource allocation for the long haul.”
He did not specify exactly what that renewed focus would look like in terms of resources.
The paper reported that Burns was well received by the panel, and, at one point, a Democrat told him the hearing risked becoming “a full-fledged bouquet-throwing contest.”
One hiccup came when Senator Marco Rubio, the panel’s Republican vice chairman, inquired about Burns’ position as president of the International Peace think tank. The paper reported that Burns worked there since 2014, and the think tank has ties to the Communist Party of China (CCP) via its partnership with Tsinghua University. The paper mentioned critics say the school has been accused of being a front for CCP influence efforts.
Burns, a career diplomat, agreed with others in the Biden administration and called China the “biggest geopolitical test that we face,” according to VOA News. He called Beijing’s leadership adversarial and predatory:
“Out competing China will be key to our national security in the decades ahead… The evolution of [President] Xi Jinping’s China over the last six or seven years has been a very sharp wake-up call. It’s the kind of aggressive, undisguised ambition and assertiveness that I think has made very clear the nature of the adversary that we face.”
TREND FORECAST: As we have reported over the years, the U.S. will not confront China militarily. And as we have noted, being that the U.S. has not won a war since World War II (and did so in part with the assistance of Russia), the Pentagon is well aware that war with China would be catastrophic, considering the size and power of China’s military.
If war did break out between the two nations, considering the depth and range of 21st-century weaponry of each nation, it will not only be the war that ends all wars, it will also be the end of life on Earth.
Indeed, when Albert Einstein was asked what weaponry would be used to fight World War III, he replied. “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
