CIA chief warns of China ambitions

Tenet says Beijing's military training is taking an 'increasingly real-world focus'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA chief George J. Tenet has warned U.S. politicians that China remains committed to becoming a major global power and was "deeply skeptical" about U.S. intentions in Central and South Asia.

Speaking before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency said that despite joining the coalition against terrorism, Beijing fears the U.S. was gaining regional influence at China's expense.

"It views our encouragement of a Japanese military role in counter-terrorism as support for Japanese rearmament -- something the Chinese firmly oppose," Tenet said.

The comments come ahead of a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to Asia, including stops in China, Japan and South Korea.

Tenet said that "a lot has happened" in the past year, from a straining in relations over the fatal spy plane collision in April to the more positive image of Bush and his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin standing together at a summit in Shanghai.

Despite that, China's drive to become a great power remained, the intelligence chief said.

"China is developing an increasingly competitive economy and building a modern military force with the ultimate objective of asserting itself as a great power in East Asia," Tenet said.

Taiwan

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Stressing the importance and benefits of strong relations, both Chinese and American officials have been upbeat over Sino-U.S. ties ahead of Bush's visit.

During his recent trip to the U.S., Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing focused on the positive elements in bilateral relations and said Beijing was ready to form a "long-term cooperation mechanism" in the fight against terrorism.

However, China is anxious over the strong U.S. military presence in Central and South Asia.

Following the events of September 11 and the American-led war on terror, analysts say Beijing fears being encircled by U.S. military muscle.

Li also cited the Taiwan issue as a problem between both nations but refrained from specific criticism of Washington's Asian policies, including arms sales to Taipei.

In his address to the senate committee, Tenet said that cross-strait relations remained at a stalemate with Taiwan the focus of China's military modernization programs.

He said that in the last 12 months, Beijing's military training was taking an "increasingly real-world focus" aimed at improving the military's ability to use force.

"This is aimed not only at Taiwan but also at increasing the risk to the United States itself in any future Taiwan contingency," Tenet said.

Threat

CNN's Senior China Analyst Willy Wo-Lap Lam says that the committee address could fuel hardline elements wary about Sino-U.S. relations.

"Tenet's remarks that Beijing's military assertiveness remains a serious cause for concern could buttress Beijing hardliners' argument that Washington is persevering with an anti-China containment policy," Lam says.

"These hardliners are saying that despite Sino-U.S. cooperation in fighting terrorism, the U.S. still regards China as its biggest threat in the future."

Tenet also said that China was making progress towards the development and deployment of the Dongfeng-31, its first generation of road mobile strategic missiles.

There were reports in the Japanese media earlier this week of a failed test of a DF-31 equipped with multiple independent re-entry vehicle (MIRV) capacity.

It is estimated that China currently has 20 operational ICBM silos but is equipped only with single warheads.

China has been developing MIRV technology for decades to enable a single rocket to launch several warheads in space simultaneously directed to different targets.

Such a weapon would theoretically be able to circumvent effectiveness of the controversial missile-shield defense system being developed by the U.S.

China is strongly opposed to the missile shield, saying the project is specifically aimed at neutralizing its missile capabilities.