NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
A U.S. intelligence report required by federal law on corruption and hidden wealth of Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping, is long overdue to Congress and must be made public soon, according to a letter organized by Rep. Andy Ogles, a sponsor of the law.
Mr. Ogles, Tennessee Republican, and three other lawmakers stated in a letter Wednesday to the new Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that the report has not been produced more than a year after the deadline for its required submission under a 2022 law.
Avril Haines, the DNI under former President Biden, ignored requests for information on the status of the report, the letter states.
“While reporting requirements from Congress to federal agencies are standard fare, the eventual release of this report will carry far greater implications; it will probably highlight that [Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his top cadres are not ‘scraping by’ on legally prescribed nominal salaries – indeed, they are more than likely bona fide billionaires,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was also signed by Republican Reps. Chris Smith, of New Jersey, Barry Moore, of Alabama, and Andy Biggs, of Arizona.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Gabbard, who was confirmed to her post on Feb. 12, had no immediate comment.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington lobbied against releasing the report last summer. A Congressional Research Service report from June 2024 concluded that senior Chinese leaders, including Mr. Xi, are engaged in corruption and hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth by using relatives to disguise their activities.
The forthcoming intelligence report was required under a section of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and gave the intelligence agencies a year to produce it.
“Fourteen months removed from the latest possible due date for this report, Congress is still waiting for a work product that will undoubtedly have critical implications for our legislative work,” the letter states.
The lawmakers praised what they said was Ms. Gabbard’s personal commitment to government transparency, calling it a welcome change from the Biden administration. The Senate co-sponsor of the legislation was Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio who is now secretary of state.
Both Mr. Rubio and Mr. Ogles later introduced additional legislation that gave intelligence agencies a six-month extension for producing the report.
The letter stated that “massive wealth accumulation” by senior Chinese Communist Party leaders is already known to a limited extent.
For example, in 2012 the family of Mr. Xi, who is general secretary of the party in addition to being China’s president since 2012, held $376 million worth of investments in certain companies, and an 18% indirect stake in a rare-earth mineral company that holds $1.73 billion in assets, the letter said.
By contrast, about 600 million people in China are living on an estimated $5 per day. “So much, it would seem, for the supposed benefits of Communism,” the letter stated, noting that Mr. Xi has told China’s people to “eat bitterness” during the current economic downturn in the country.
“The juxtaposition between the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the PRC’s leadership and the more than 1.4 billion people suffering under the CCP’s tyrannical rule would shatter any pretense that Mr. Xi and his minions were ever interested in combating corruption,” the letter said. “It would represent a new opportunity for the people of the PRC and could undermine the heretofore unchallenged assumption that the CCP has sole claim to political legitimacy in the People’s Republic of China.”
The lawmakers asked the DNI to produce the report in the coming days, for use by the House in taking up the fiscal 2026 defense authorization bill. They also asked Ms. Gabbard to provide details on the status of the report by March 12.
China balks at Trump call for defense cuts
The Chinese government this week appeared to throw cold water on an Oval Office proposal by President Trump for nuclear arms talks with Moscow and Beijing, and an eventual halving of defense spending by all three nations.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready to discuss Mr. Trump’s suggestion of mutual defense budget cuts of 50% and that he believed China could join three-way talks on the reductions.
Asked about Mr. Putin’s comment during a press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian did not answer directly and defended the pace of Beijing’s defense spending and its buildup of weapons and forces.
China’s “limited defense spending is completely out of the need of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and the need of maintaining world peace,” Mr. Lin said in dismissing the prospect of Beijing joining in on cuts.
Instead, Mr. Lin said global defense spending in recent years had steadily increased and is at an all-time high amid growing regional tensions.
The Pentagon’s latest report on the Chinese military estimates that the People’s Liberation Army is spending 40% to 90% more on the military than its announced expenditures. For 2024, that spending was around $330 billion to $450 billion, the report said. Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, said in October that the PLA military buildup is the world’s largest expansion of armed forces since World War II.
The U.S. defense budget is over $900 billion this year.
Mr. Putin said Russia is ready to discuss halving its defense spending, the state news agency TASS reported: “A 50% reduction in military budgets by both countries would be a good idea,” he said.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Feb. 13 that the U.S. military is rebuilding and that he had authorized substantial contracts for new weapons.
But he then decried the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to modernize the aging U.S. nuclear arsenal. He said he would prefer a deal with U.S. adversaries so that all could cut spending.
At some point, Mr. Trump said he would like to meet with leaders of China and Russia and tell them there’s no reason for the United States to be spending nearly $1 trillion on defense, or for China to be spending $400 billion.
“As soon as things settle down, I’m going to have that conference, primarily with China and Russia, because those are the two that really are out there.”
Nuclear disarmament talks including China eluded the first Trump administration. Beijing refused, arguing that its much smaller nuclear arsenal was not up for negotiation unless sharp cuts were made first in U.S. and Russian strategic forces.
China is currently engaged in what the U.S. Strategic Command calls nuclear “breakout” — an alarming and rapid nuclear weapons buildup. From about 200 warheads several years ago, the PLA now has 600 and is expected to have over 1,000 in the next few years.
The emphasis on cutting defense spending and limiting the large-scale U.S. nuclear modernization needed to deter adversaries like China and Russia appears at odds with Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to rebuild the military and build a “peace through strength” posture.
Rubio: U.S. is ready to halt Chinese attack on Taiwan
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the United States is committed to defending Taiwan from a Chinese attack and has made the U.S. position clear to Beijing.
Mr. Rubio said in an interview with Fox News that China is the most dangerous near-peer adversary the United States has ever faced, acknowledging that a future U.S.-China war over Taiwan is a concern.
The American policy of backing Taiwan against any forced change in the island’s self-ruled status remains in place. “That’s been our position since the late 1970s, and that continues to be our position, and that’s not going to change,” he said.
However, greater U.S. military capabilities are needed to “respond to the threat that China is posing, and we need to be concerned,” Mr. Rubio said.
The production of U.S. warplanes and warships is lagging behind that of China. China’s military can build 10 ships before one U.S. ship is built, he said.
“That’s a very serious vulnerability that cannot continue,” Mr. Rubio said, adding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump have a plan to address it.
Asked specifically how the United States would respond to Chinese military action against Taiwan, Mr. Rubio said: “America has existing commitments that it has made to prevent that from happening and to react to it, and that would be executed on. … And the Chinese are aware of this as well.”
To prevent an attack, the United States has a strong leader in the White House and military capabilities to respond, he said.
“If the Chinese know we have the ability to respond, then they may [not] do that,” Mr. Rubio said. “If they know we don’t have the capability to respond, or we have a weak leader, then they may test it. And we just don’t want to get to that point. It would be a terrible thing for the world, and it would be a bad thing for China too, by the way.”
Mr. Rubio said he made the U.S. position on Taiwan clear in a recent conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
U.S. relations with China must be balanced and “cannot be one where they become dominant, because then we are going to have a conflict and we don’t want that,” he said.
The secretary outlined the general Trump administration’s foreign policy toward Beijing: “What we cannot have is a world where China is so powerful, we depend on them. And that’s right now where we’re headed, unfortunately. That’s going to change. That’s going to change under President Trump.”
American reliance on China for supplies, such as rare earth minerals and pharmaceuticals, will be ended and new domestic sources will be created, he predicted.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.