By Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the U.S. intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a measured tone on one of the world's biggest potential flashpoints.
The assessment in the intelligence agencies' annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent military drills, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has played down the risk of Chinese military action while he is in office.
The Pentagon late last year said the U.S. military believed China was preparing to be able to win a fight for Taiwan by 2027, the centenary of the founding of its People's Liberation Army, and was refining options to take Taiwan by "brute force" if needed.
CHINA PREFERS UNIFICATION WITHOUT FORCE: REPORT
"China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a U.S. attempt to use Taiwan to undermine China's rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible," the U.S. intelligence agencies said in the report.
The U.S. "assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification," the report said.
The report reiterated previous views that the PLA was making "steady but uneven" progress on capabilities it could use to capture the democratically governed island.
China's embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington also did not respond immediately.
Trump, who has repeatedly touted his "great relationship" with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, has downplayed the threat of the Chinese drills around Taiwan and said Xi told him he will not attack Taiwan while the U.S. president is in office - something Beijing has never confirmed.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to take the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.
Despite concerns in the U.S. and abroad about Trump's inclination to back Taiwan, his administration in December unveiled a record $11 billion sale of weapons for the island, angering Beijing, which says such arms deals must end.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Franklin Paul, Rod Nickel)
