CIA Director William Burns said on Thursday that Russia’s war in Ukraine could change China’s plans for Taiwan. He told a committee of the House of Representatives that “no one has been watching more closely” what is happening in Ukraine than Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to CNN, according to News.ro.

“I don’t think anyone has followed Vladimir Putin’s experience in Ukraine more closely than Xi Jinping, and I think he’s kind of woken up, at least that’s what our analysis shows, because of how much the West has been able to support solidarity. and absorb some short-term economic costs in order to impose even greater long-term economic costs on Russia,” William Burns said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats.

“This is something that President Xi has to weigh as he emerges from the COVID zero period, trying to restore China’s economic growth and trying to connect with the rest of the global economy,” Burns added.

Supporters of continuing U.S. support for Ukraine in Congress echoed Burns’ comments about China, telling their skeptical colleagues that rejecting China is one of the key reasons to continue helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia, CNN reports.

The day before, on Wednesday, William Burns was heard before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he said that the future of the CIA will be determined by the technological race between America and China.

How dangerous is China for America?

This week, the US intelligence community released its annual public assessment of threats to the US. The report identifies China as the biggest threat to national security. The report mentions China’s widespread use of cyber tactics to spy on the US, its success in stealing intellectual property and its ability to acquire foreign technology.

“I think the revolution in technology is not only a major area of ​​competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Burns said on the Senate floor. “It is also a major determinant of our future as an intelligence agency,” the CIA director said.

If Beijing believes a major conflict with the United States is imminent, it “will almost certainly consider aggressive cyber operations against critical US domestic infrastructure and military assets around the world,” the intelligence community said in a report. “Such an attack would be aimed at deterring American military action by disrupting American decision-making, causing public panic, and interfering with the deployment of American forces,” the document explains.

The report also highlights China’s “expanding technological authoritarianism,” citing Beijing’s aggressive efforts to control and manipulate the free flow of content around the world. The report also noted that China is “almost certainly” capable of launching cyberattacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services, including against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems.

American intelligence services also concluded that Beijing collected American health and genome data through cyber-hacks and the purchase of American companies, writes Reuters.