China ‘existential threat’ to US – CIA deputy director

Unlike the Cold War with the USSR, the competition with Beijing is primarily along “economic lines,” Michael Ellis has said.

China’s economic might makes the Asian nation a unique challenge as the US competes with it for global influence, CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis has said.

“China is the existential threat to American security in a way that we really have never confronted before,” Ellis said in an interview with Axios on Wednesday. Unlike with the Soviet Union, the current competition is primarily unfolding along economic lines, he explained.

Ellis said technological supremacy in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, semiconductors, and advanced energy storage will ultimately determine the outcome of the geopolitical contest.

He outlined the CIA’s evolving priorities in an era where traditional methods of human intelligence gathering face increasing limitations. There has to be an “evolution in operational tradecraft,” Ellis stated. “While some of the tools and techniques from the 1960s or 70s might still work today, a lot of them need to be updated and refreshed.”

To meet the challenge, Ellis said the agency is recruiting an “elite workforce” with advanced scientific and engineering expertise, emphasizing a drive to build “the ultimate meritocracy at the CIA.”

Beijing has repeatedly accused Washington of clinging to a “Cold War mentality” and seeking global dominance instead of embracing a multipolar world based on cooperation and mutual benefit.

The US and China remain embroiled in a protracted trade dispute, which has escalated under the administration of President Donald Trump following the imposition of tariffs on imports of Chinese products. Beijing has responded with countermeasures.

Following the latest round of talks, both sides issued a joint statement pledging to resolve their disagreements through “mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect.”

This week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the Trump administration’s intention to shift its attention from European affairs to China.

“Every dollar we spend on this [Ukraine] conflict in Europe is distracting both our focus and our resources away from the potential for a much more serious, much more cataclysmic confrontation in the Indo-Pacific,” Rubio told lawmakers during a Senate hearing.

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