China is likely to achieve great-power status this century and maintain a military buildup but is not an inevitable enemy, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Wednesday.
China is an economic and strategic competitor with the United States, Hayden said in a Kansas speech on 21st-century trends, adding the country was likely to continue a "troubling" military buildup.
"China, a communist-led, nuclear state that aspires to — and will likely achieve — great power status during this century, will be the focus of U.S. attention (in Asia)," he said.
It all depends on whether China acts from a narrow self-interest or with broader perspective, Hayden said in a speech at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.
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