Russia has been on the media's lips more than anything the past two years since Donald Trump became president, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there's a much bigger threat on the horizon. The U.S. should be most worried about China, Pompeo told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
"I don’t think there’s any doubt," Pompeo said, that "over the five, ten, twenty-five year time horizon, just by simple demographics and wealth, as well as by the internal system in that country, China presents the greatest challenge that the United States will face in the medium to long term."
Pompeo remarked specifically on China's quick progression on their satellite and hypersonic capabilities, not to mention their aggressiveness as of late. They've even "misled" us on occasion, Pompeo said, before offering an example.
"You’ll recall that in the Rose Garden, President Xi confirmed that he would not militarize these, I’ll call them islands, but these outposts in the South China Sea, and then in fact did. And so we now know that the intention of China is to continue to build out, to continue to expand their capability. And President Trump and President Xi talked about this some when they were together in Buenos Aires, and we are determined to make sure that America is prepared across every battlefront. I didn’t mention cyber previously. Each of these battlefronts is a place the United States must be sure we maintain our capacity to be the premier capability in the world."
China also recently showed the world its disregard for human rights by detaining a pastor and over 100 Christians. It's not a new phenomenon either, according to a report from ChinaAid.
You can listen to Pompeo's interview with Hewitt here.