Iran Press/ America: Even as the United States and China seek to resolve escalating trade tensions, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has called China the “greatest challenge” facing his country, Real Clear Politic reported.
“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 said in an interview to a radio host Monday.
Pompeo in response to the question by interviewer Hugh Hewitt, who asked about a “hypersonic gap” between US and China said that the Chinese continue to build up their capabilities like their satellite capabilities, their hypersonic capabilities, their artificial intelligence capabilities, the capacity of the PLA to conduct operations not only in their territory but in a more expeditionary fashion.
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He continued: "the United States has a duty to defend itself, and we need to make sure that we have the resources and the right set of leaders and capabilities so that we don’t find ourselves in a place two, five or fifteen years from now where we no longer maintain the capacity to keep America safe and secure against all threats, especially including the one that the Chinese are building".
The remarks came at a crucial time in relations between the world’s largest and second largest economies.
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The relationship between the US and China has deteriorated in recent months, as the US tariff rate on $200 billion in Chinese goods is set to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on Jan. 1.
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There were widespread concerns that such a large hike in tariffs could trigger a serious trade war between the two countries, with devastating results for the global economy.
The International Monetary Fund warned on October 10 that the US-China trade war was taking a toll and emerging markets were struggling with tighter liquidity and capital outflows.
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Pointing to developments in the South China Sea, Pompeo called the Chinese government's actions aggressive and misleading and said that the intention of China is to continue to build out, to continue to expand their capability.
The secretary of state’s remarks also came as the US and China are negotiating an improbable trade deal, weighed down by exaggerated expectations and promises, under the cover of temporary truce agreed upon by "Donald Trump" and "Xi Jinping", US and China presidents on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina earlier this month. 103/207
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