Security News > 2021 > March > Biden administration labels China top tech threat, promises proportionate responses to cyberattacks
The Biden administration has named China as the most threatening nation the United States faces, on grounds that it can combine its technological and other capabilities like no other.
That assessment was offered in a new Interim National Security Guidance [PDF] issued on Wednesday, in which the administration also outlines plans to seek more regulation of advanced technologies and an intention to strike back after cyberattacks.
The document describes China as "Rapidly become more assertive" and rates it "The only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system."
The document also mentions Russia, North Korea, Iran, and violent extremists everywhere as the USA's most obvious adversaries.
The administration hopes to work with allies and partners to "Modernize the architecture of international cooperation for the challenges of this century, from cyber threats to climate change, corruption, and digital authoritarianism."
"We will renew our commitment to international engagement on cyber issues, working alongside our allies and partners to uphold existing and shape new global norms in cyberspace," the document states, adding that the administration plans to "Lead in promoting shared norms and forge new agreements on emerging technologies, space, cyber space, health and biological threats, climate and the environment, and human rights."