Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday.
Photo: AP

The threat posed by China to Taiwan until 2030 is “critical,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday while testifying on worldwide threats at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s critical, or acute,” Haines said when asked by US Senator Josh Hawley if she viewed the threat facing Taiwan to be acute from now until 2030.

There have recently been another two tragic self-immolation cases in Tibet. Both raised eyebrows within the Tibetan community and on Chinese media platforms.

One involved a well-known Tibetan singer named Tsewang Norbu on Feb. 25. Norbu’s case sparked many questions, but most importantly it raised concerns about the demographic significance of participating in self-immolation to protest against the Chinese government.

Tsewang Norbu was only 25 years old and he seemed to have a promising future, having performed in a series of national and regional singing reality shows, while his Sina Weibo account has nearly 600,000 followers. He was the 105th Tibetan in their 20s to commit self-immolation in protest against the Chinese government and its policies.