China's Xi Jinping 'unlikely' to invade Taiwan ahead of party congress: analysts

As CIA director William Burns warned lawmakers in Washington not to underestimate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, analysts said Beijing is highly unlikely to start any military action against its democratic neighbor ahead of the CCP congress later this year. 

Burns told the House of Representatives intelligence committee on Tuesday that China appeared to have been "unsettled" by the difficulties Russia has faced since it invaded Ukraine."I would just say analytically, I would not underestimate President Xi and the Chinese leadership's determination with regard to Taiwan," Burns told the committee. "I do think ... that they have been surprised and unsettled to some extent by what they've seen in Ukraine over the last 12 days, everything from the strength of the Western reaction to the way in which Ukrainians have fiercely resisted," he added.

He said Beijing hadn't likely anticipated the reputational damage done to the CCP by its close relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Read more