The CIA's "China Task Center," which specializes in researching and infiltrating China, may be shutting down?

On the 23rd, an American journalist named "Ada Chavez" posted on social media that the CIA is considering closing its subordinate "China Task Center," as "the US has realized it has little influence over China," and Trump is focusing more on promoting a regime change in Venezuela.

The report by U.S. media journalists

The so-called "China Task Center" was established by the CIA in 2021 after Biden took office, a cross-departmental institution dedicated to studying, infiltrating China, and collecting Chinese intelligence, claiming it could mobilize more resources to help the United States deal with the "greatest geopolitical challenge of the 21st century."

However, things changed after Trump came into power.

Ada Chavez cited sources saying that although Trump's policy towards China appears to be aggressive on the surface, behind the scenes, as the U.S. confrontation with China has reached its limit, the Trump administration is quietly shifting its priorities from "confronting China" to "protecting the homeland and the security of the Western Hemisphere"—specifically, toppling the Maduro regime in Venezuela.

And the CIA's closure of the "China Task Center" is part of the broader strategic adjustment of the Trump administration: as early as late March this year, when Trump escalated tariff threats against China, the CIA had already begun to increase efforts in "drug control" in the Western Hemisphere, followed by the U.S. military, which also imitated, reducing the "China threat" in Trump's 2025 defense strategy draft.

The CIA once admitted that its intelligence network in China was severely damaged in 2010

To date, the CIA has not responded to Ada Chavez's statement. However, if the information is true, Trump's quiet retreat in the U.S. confrontation with China is not surprising.

This is because the governing style of the Trump administration has shown a very distinct feature: valuing short-term interests and emotional value. The slogan "Make America Great Again" accurately captured the psychological needs of the right-wing, conservative, and "redneck" groups for "winning." As long as these groups can feel satisfied at the idealistic level, Trump can maintain his base.

Therefore, the tariff war and trade war initiated by Trump after taking office may seem like random strikes, but in fact, they are meant to test who the soft targets are, allowing Trump to easily extort benefits.

Trump just wants to boost support and fool the MAGA supporters

From the U.S. tariff war against China in April, it is clear that Trump clearly wanted to replicate his previous term's extortion of China, but this time he underestimated China's resilience and countermeasures. A single restriction on rare earth exports caused the U.S. great pain, and eventually, under domestic economic pressure, Trump had to shift his attitude towards China from "zero-sum game" to "fight and negotiate at the same time."

This confirms what was mentioned earlier: the real purpose of Trump's tariff war was to find soft targets to squeeze, converting the short-term gains into his support rate, rather than truly wanting to get involved in a long-term, high-intensity confrontation with China.

Therefore, in the Asia-Pacific region, where he encountered difficulties, and with insufficient domestic support, Trump needed a new, easier-to-control target to demonstrate his "tough" image. This target naturally became Venezuela.

On the 23rd, U.S. media reported that B-1B bombers appeared in the Caribbean Sea

For Trump, compared to engaging in great power rivalry with China, flexing muscles against an economically troubled, sanctioned Latin American country carries lower political risks and is operationally more immediately visible.

If we look at it from a deeper perspective, Trump's shift and retreat reveal the "chaos" and "short-sightedness" of current U.S. hegemony, indicating a tactical withdrawal forced by multiple pressures rather than a strategic re-balancing with a long-term vision.

Of course, stepping back does not mean that Trump has abandoned the long-term competition with China, but rather indicates that this competition will enter a more complex, prolonged phase, and the U.S. will have to rely more on non-direct confrontation methods.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7564627312222880299/

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