U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia and China are cooperating more closely on military issues, including a possible invasion of Taiwan, prompting new plans within the administration to counter a possible scenario in which the countries fight in coordination.
“We see China and Russia exercising together for the first time on Taiwan and recognize that this is a place where China absolutely wants Russia to work with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” said Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said this in testimony before Congress on Thursday.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota asked Haines about such a potential scenario during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. He also asked the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency about the Pentagon’s plans for such a capability.
The Department of Defense has become “even more concerned about our joint force requirements in an environment where “Russia and China” would certainly cooperate, and we must take that into account,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse responded.
Rounds said that “the bottom line is that if we were to come into conflict with one front, there’s a good chance we would have a second front,” which affects planning, equipment and manpower needs.
“It’s definitely a possibility,” Haines said. “I think the question of how likely it is varies depending on the scenario.”
Haines added that intelligence assessments show “increasing cooperation in the no-limits partnership” between Russia and China “in literally every sector of society: political, economic, military, technologically and so on.”
