A senior CIA official says China is waging a "cold war" to replace the United States as a leading global power



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A senior CIA official for Asia said Friday that Beijing was conducting a "cold war" against Washington and was seeking "to replace the United States as the dominant power in the world."

Aspen, Colorado, CIA The comments of Michael Collins at a public session on the emergence of China have been among the most virulent comments to date on Beijing's intentions not only in Asia , but also around the world.

Collins said Chinese leaders "aspire, develop their ambitions, their interests, their activities around the globe to compete with the United States, and ultimately, to undermine our influence over their influence."

Collins said Chinese President Xi Jinping oversaw this initiative to dethrone the United States by adopting a Cold War approach

"In their own words and what Xi is saying, I would say by definition what The war against us is fundamentally a cold war, a cold war not as we saw it during the Cold War, but a cold war by definition.A country that exploits all the lawful and illegal, public and private, economic and military, to undermine the position of your rival in relation to your own position without recourse to conflict. "In the end, they want all the countries of the world, when they decide their interests on political issues, first and foremost with China, not the United States, because the Chinese are increasingly defining a conflict with the United States and what we see as a systemic conflict.

Collins' comments echo those of FBI director Christopher Wray. In its latest national defense strategy report, released earlier this year, the United States warned of a return to an era of "big power" conflict with adversaries such as Canada. like China and Russia.

This report indicates that China "is taking advantage of military modernization, influence operations and the predatory economy to force neighboring countries to reorganize the Indo-Pacific region". But he noted that By continuing his economic and military ascent, he will continue to work to move the United States away from Asia "to reach world pre-eminence in the future."

Euan Graham, security expert from the Lowy Australian Institute Collins' statements have shed light on the increasingly tense relations of the two powers from a different angle

"A warning on China emanating from an analyst from the United States. East Asia is not a surprise, "Graham said. "But the spread of the Sino-US rivalry on a global scale is a step forward compared to China as a regional competitor."

The most visible aspects of China's predominance have been the South China Sea.

The Strategic Waterway – in which the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have overlapping claims – includes vital shipping lanes through which approximately $ 3 trillion annually flow into world trade [19659012]. Some experts claim that one of these man-made islets includes military airfields, where anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-aircraft missiles have also been deployed. 19659002] Washington criticized Beijing for building the island, fearing that the outposts could be used to restrict free movement in the waterway, the United States leading a number of so-called freedom operations navigation in the region. Meanwhile, Aiwan also remains a potential flash point, as Xi orders military training and increased actions around the self-determined island. Beijing warned that it would defend, by force if necessary, its "One China" principle that Taiwan is considered part of China's own territory, pending reunification.

And in the East China Sea, Washington angered Beijing on a promise to defend the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China, where they are known as Diaoyu.

On the economic front, the United States and China have also been engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war that could unleash chaos on the global economy and threatened the links between the two powers .

Collins said that by watching Chinese propaganda and what is known as "Xi Jinping thought" – a worldview recently It is clear that the threat posed by China is the biggest global challenge to which United States are currently facing.

"It creates a competition with us and what we support in a much more extreme way than the Russians could do. The Graham of Lowy Institute said that Collins' remarks recalled that despite the current concern for Russian influence, the highest intelligence officials in the United States regard China as the true strategic rival

. "Collins' comments are a reminder that the United States is engaged in a struggle to maintain strategic primacy, and that this informs Washington's approach not only," he added. in the military field, but also explains his increasingly conflictless zero-sum stance on trade and technology, "Graham added.

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