The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is considering establishing an independent Mission Center for China to keep tabs on America's main strategic rival, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2021) The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is considering establishing an independent Mission Center for China to keep tabs on America's main strategic rival, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources.
Proposed by CIA Director William Burns, the new stand-alone China center would focus solely on the Asian country within the agency, in which China has long been a part of a broader Mission Center for East Asia and Pacific.
The existing CIA units, according to Bloomberg, include those for counterintelligence, counterterrorism and the Near East.
"As Director Burns has said, China is one of his priorities, and CIA is in the process of determining how best to position ourselves to reflect the significance of this priority," the news agency qouted the CIA as saying.
US-China relations significantly deteriorated during the Donald Trump presidency. His successor, Joe Biden, has had a rocky start in his relationship with Beijing, with officials from the two countries openly bickering before media at a meeting in Alaska hosted by State Secretary Antony Blinken in spring.
While Biden has undone most of Trump's executive orders on immigration, climate and other matters, he has left intact the tariffs on China, indicating that his administration would likely use them in the future to pressure Beijing into making concessions on trade and other issues
