Washington Intelligence Chief Rates China-Russia Relations Continue To Improve, But Not As Solid As US-NATO

JAKARTA - China will deepen its cooperation with Russia to try to challenge the United States, despite international condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the US intelligence agency said on Wednesday.

"Despite the global reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China will maintain its diplomatic, defense, economic, and technological cooperation with Russia to continue seeking to challenge the United States, even as it will limit public support," the agency said in a threat assessment released, when The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding its annual hearing on worldwide threats to US security, launched Reuters March 9.

The report mostly focuses on threats from China and Russia, assessing that China will continue to intimidate rivals in the South China Sea.

"Perhaps needless to say, the People's Republic of China, which is increasingly challenging the United States, economically, technologically, politically, and militarily, around the world remains our unparalleled priority," said Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, chief intelligence adviser to President Joe Biden.

To fulfill Chinese leader Xi Jinping's vision of making China a major power, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "is increasingly convinced that it can only do so at the expense of US power and influence," Haines said.

However, she said US intelligence assessed that Beijing believed it would benefit from a stable relationship, despite President Xi's recent sharp criticism of the United States.

President Xi blamed the West for China's economic woes in a speech on Monday, in which he accused the United States of leading international efforts to contain China.

During the dialogue, Senator Angus King, an independent with a caucus with the Democrats, asked Haines' views on Beijing's relationship with Moscow.

"Was this a 'temporary marriage of convenience' or a 'long-term love affair,'" King asked.

"It keeps getting deeper," Haines replied, adding that she would hesitate to call the Beijing-Moscow relationship a 'love affair'.

"There are some boundaries that we will see where they will go in that partnership. We don't see them becoming allies like we are with allies in NATO, however, we are seeing increased (cooperation) in every sector," said Haines.

The report said Russia may not seek conflict with the United States and NATO, but that war in Ukraine carries a "grave risk" of that, and that there is a real potential for Russia's military failure in Ukraine to hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin's domestic position, increasing the potential for escalation.

Haines described the "prolonged and exhausting war" in Ukraine, saying US intelligence did not expect Russia's military to recover enough this year to make any major territorial gains.