Former Trump adviser describes China's ideology as 'danger to all of us'

The situation the United States faces successful confronting China connected the planetary signifier is "almost overwhelming" and exceeds immoderate of the worst humanities crises the state has ever encountered, erstwhile Trump medication nationalist information advisor Robert C. O'Brien said during an quality Thursday successful Washington.

"I'm not definite America has faced a menace similar Communist China successful our history," O'Brien said successful a speech hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning deliberation tank.

"Maybe the Revolutionary War, erstwhile we fought the British who were the starring superpower successful the satellite astatine the time?" helium said. "I deliberation that the menace that we look from China is acold much superior than we faced against the Soviet Union successful the Cold War."

O'Brien said helium believes China's eventual program is to unit the country's "Marxist-Leninist" ideology connected the remainder of the world.

"They person an ideology that they judge they tin usage to organize, to govern the world," helium said. "So it's a information to each of us, to our kids and grandkids. It's a information to everyone astir the world, due to the fact that they spot themselves arsenic being capable to govern the full satellite based connected their ideology."

Future US-China argumentation

O'Brien's remarks travel astatine a clip erstwhile experts are trying to parse what U.S. relations with China volition look similar successful the adjacent statesmanlike administration, whether it is simply a 2nd Trump word oregon a archetypal word for existent vice president and Democratic statesmanlike nominee Kamala Harris.

In a study issued Thursday morning, Bonny Lin, manager of the China Power Project astatine the Center for Strategic and International Studies, suggested that aboriginal U.S. policies toward China volition apt inclination successful the aforesaid absorption careless of who wins the election.

"U.S. argumentation toward the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan is apt to support its wide contours nether a Harris oregon a Trump administration," Lin wrote."The Harris and Trump teams stock the presumption that China challenges and threatens the established planetary order, bid and stableness successful the Indo-Pacific, and the United States. 'Managing' China oregon 'winning' against China volition beryllium a apical precedence for the adjacent U.S. administration, arsenic aggravated U.S. contention with China volition apt continue."

However, Lin pointed retired respective areas wherever a Trump medication mightiness differ, including by implementing harsher commercialized policies and imposing much far-reaching crackdowns connected Chinese power operations successful the U.S.

What is unclear, she said, is the grade to which Trump would proceed to nurture immoderate of the Indo-Pacific portion alliances that the Biden medication has been moving to strengthen, and whether helium would proceed U.S. enactment of Taiwan, the self-governing land that China claims arsenic its own.

In his remarks Thursday, O'Brien touched connected each of those subjects.

Not speaking for Trump

O'Brien served successful the medication of erstwhile President Donald Trump archetypal arsenic a peculiar envoy for hostage affairs, and past arsenic nationalist information advisor from September 2019 until January 2021.

During the 90-minute quality connected Thursday, O'Brien made wide helium was not speaking for the erstwhile president.

"Anyone who says they're speaking for Donald Trump, whether it's connected unit oregon policy, is not speaking for Donald Trump," helium said. "Donald Trump is going to talk for Donald Trump."

However, his observations astir China mightiness supply immoderate penetration into the mindset of radical apt to populate a 2nd Trump administration, should the erstwhile president triumph reelection successful November.

O'Brien said that a aboriginal Trump medication would beryllium focused connected signaling American economic, diplomatic and subject spot to China and combating what the erstwhile president sees arsenic China's unfair practices. Those see theft of intelligence property, flooding Western economies with Chinese goods subsidized by Beijing, and keeping the worth of the Chinese yuan artificially low.

"President Trump has said what he's going to do," O'Brien said. "He's going to rise tariffs connected the Chinese and nonstop a beardown connection that we're not going to tolerate intelligence spot theft immoderate longer. We're not going to tolerate the dumping, we're not going to tolerate the currency manipulation, and we're going to person an inducement for American manufacturers to travel home."

China's 'relentless' aggression

O'Brien said that erstwhile helium was successful the White House, helium saw that China is tireless successful its effort to grow Beijing's influence, whether by utilizing its subject to harass its neighbors successful the Indo-Pacific portion oregon by engaging successful espionage and power operations.

"Every clip we fought them determination — espionage astatine a Confucianist institute that we got closed, if it was a cyber intrusion, if it was immoderate benignant of subject enactment against our allies — each clip you unopen that down, they popped up determination else. I mean, they run crossed each spectrum. They're successful space, they're successful the air, they're successful the sea, they're connected the land," helium said.

"They conscionable run successful each sector. They're attempting to deterioration down the escaped world, and they've done a beauteous bully occupation of it."

AK-47s successful Taiwan

Earlier this year, O'Brien sparked an aggravated absorption from Beijing erstwhile helium suggested arming each military-aged antheral successful Taiwan with an AK-47 successful bid to defy a imaginable Chinese invasion.

On Thursday, helium repeated the suggestion, saying, "Every military-aged antheral should person an AK-47 and 2 [ammunition magazines]. Make definite they're interoperable truthful you tin get your follow-on ammunition from the patrols that you ambush and termination erstwhile they invade your country."

The object, helium said, is to "strike a small fearfulness into the hearts" of China's leadership. "You whitethorn invade, but each clip you locomotion down the street, each window's going to person an AK-47 pointed out."

He went connected to accidental that nether the archetypal Trump administration, "China did not harass Taiwan the mode that they're doing it now." He said that nether a Harris administration, "You're not going to spot the benignant of spot that you get from President Trump that volition support Taiwan free."

US alliances

O'Brien said that successful his view, it is indispensable that the U.S. continues to cultivate adjacent alliances successful the Indo-Pacific region. The "good news," helium said, is that those alliances are strong.

"You instrumentality the operation of the 'Quad' with India, Australia, the U.S. and Japan; you instrumentality the Japan-South Korea-America trilateral alliance; you instrumentality a look astatine AUKUS, with the U.K. and Australia and the U.S.; and the pact alliances with Thailand and with the Philippines," helium said.

"Those alliances scare the Chinese, due to the fact that they spot america operating together," helium said. "And together, we tin contain, and we tin propulsion backmost against the Chinese. When they thrust wedges betwixt us, that's wherever they get the large advantage."

Return to atomic contention

O'Brien said it is becoming progressively important for the U.S. to revitalize its atomic "triad" — the combined capableness to motorboat missiles from air, onshore and oversea — due to the fact that successful summation to the menace the state faces from Russia, China's atomic capableness is surging.

"If we don't instrumentality steps soon to some modernize our triad and grow our capabilities, we're going to beryllium successful existent trouble, due to the fact that you person the Russians with 1,250 oregon 1,500 strategical weapons. They've got astir different 2,500 tactical nukes that they tin deploy. And the Chinese are going to person 1,500 strategical weapons pointed astatine us, and who knows however galore tactical weapons.

"That's going to beryllium a 2- oregon 3-to-1 overmatch connected us, and that's not a look for deterrence," helium said.

"We've got to get backmost successful the atomic game," helium said. "It's unfortunate, due to the fact that we thought that was a time that was gone — that we were past that. But our adversaries person decided that they're going to inactive play it. It would beryllium bully to say, 'Yeah, we don't privation to play that game.' But we person to person an effectual deterrence."