The Guardian-US faces increasingly fragile world order amid Russia and China threat
March 12, 2024 3 min 550 words
这篇报道揭示了美国情报机构对当前国际形势的担忧，特别是在俄罗斯和中国崛起的背景下。报告指出，中国的野心、俄罗斯的对抗态度以及一些地区性强权，如伊朗，以及更有实力的非国家行为体，都在挑战国际体系的长期规则和美国在其中的主导地位。对于中国向俄罗斯提供经济和安全援助的情况，以及中美之间的贸易增加，尤其是在乌克兰战争爆发后，都引起了关注。美国情报总监Avril Haines强烈呼吁国会批准更多对乌克兰的军事援助，强调这对维持乌克兰收复领土的努力至关重要。整体而言，报道突显了美国在这个动荡不安的全球秩序中所面临的复杂挑战，需要更多国际支持和内部一致行动。
US intelligence agencies have said the country faces an “increasingly fragile world order,” strained by great power competition, transnational challenges and regional conflicts, in a report released as agency leaders testified in the Senate.
“An ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers, such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as US primacy within it,” the agencies said in their 2024 Annual Threat Assessment.
The report largely focused on threats from China and Russia, the greatest rivals to the United States, more than two years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, as well as noting the risks of broader conflict related to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza since the 7 October attacks.
China is providing economic and security assistance to Russia as it wages war in Ukraine, by supporting Russia’s industrial base, the report said.
“Trade between China and Russia has been increasing since the start of the war in Ukraine, and [Chinese] exports of goods with potential military use rose more than threefold since 2022,” it said.
Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, urged lawmakers to approve more military assistance for Ukraine. She said it was “hard to imagine how Ukraine” could hold territory it has recaptured from Russia without more assistance from Washington.
She said it is “absolutely critical” that Congress pass a bill that would provide $60bn in new military assistance for Kyiv. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, an ally of Donald Trump, has so far refused to call a vote on the measure, which has passed the Democratic-run Senate.
CIA director William Burns told the Senate intelligence committee that US intelligence assessed that Vladimir Putin was not serious about negotiating an end to the conflict, despite economic consequences “fast making Russia the economic vassal to China.”
Burns, like Haines, strongly urged continuing support for Ukraine both to bolster the government in Kyiv and send a message to China about aggression toward neighbors, such as Taiwan or in the South China Sea. He said new US military assistance would give Kyiv leverage in future “serious” talks with Moscow.
“It is our assessment that [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping was sobered, you know, by what happened … He didn’t expect that Ukraine would resist with the courage and tenacity the Ukrainians demonstrated,” Burns said.
Haines noted concerns that the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas could spread global insecurity. “The crisis in Gaza is a stark example of how regional developments have the potential of broader and even global implications,” Haines said.
She said attacks by Houthi militias on shipping and said the militant groups al-Qaida and IS “inspired by Hamas” have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and US interests.
After a protester interrupted the hearing with shouts about the need to protect civilians in Gaza, Burns was asked about children in the Palestinian enclave.
“The reality is that there are children who are starving. They’re malnourished as a result of the fact that humanitarian assistance can’t get to them. It’s very difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance effectively unless you have a ceasefire,” he said.