Over the weekend, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined “One Nation” with Brian Kilmeade on Fox News to discuss China and Iran testing the United States’ military capacity and position as the dominant global superpower.
Rubio said the following about China trying to dominate the globe:
“China wants to displace the United States. This is not me being paranoid about it. This is in their speeches. This is in the books that their generals are required to read. This is in Xi Jinping’s own words. He believes that America is in decline, Europe is in chaos, China is on the rise, and there’s all this global chaos.… We need to be clear-eyed about that. They intend to be the most powerful country in the world. When you talk about a great power competition, there is no win-win. It is either they win, or we win. The world is going to change over the next 5 to 10 years, and it’s either going to be a world in which America is less powerful, and China is more powerful, or it’s going to be the reverse.
“As long as we go in clear-eyed about that, which I’m not entirely convinced this administration is, I think you have to deal with powerful countries. There’s nothing wrong with talking to them and engaging with them, but you have to do it within the concept of understanding that they are not looking for a win-win. They are looking to supplant us. In fact, they believe they’re well on their way, and we need to be clear-eyed about that and everything we do and not enter into deals that weaken us and strengthen them.”
Rubio talked about China’s economic decline and increased aggression toward the U.S.:
“This is a repressive regime. It’s not like the people of China can take to the streets and protest against this or take to the ballot box and replace Xi Jinping. So, ultimately, they don’t want their economy to shrink, and they do have their own set of problems, which I think are pretty dramatic, both short-term and long-term. The things we just mentioned, whether it’s the South China Sea and the incidents they now have with a treaty ally in the Philippines, whether it’s what they’re doing to our armed forces, the increasingly aggressive intercepts and dangerous intercepts of U.S. aircraft over international airspace, or their long term, next 5 to 10-year plan, for Taiwan. Those things are fundamental, particularly Taiwan to Xi Jinping. In addition to exerting their influence in the region, they are trying to undermine America’s military credibility and standing. That’s part of what’s happening here as well, and we need to be cognizant of that as we go in and talk to [China].”
Rubio also weighed in on China and Iran testing U.S. credibility and military limits:
“All these are interrelated, whether it’s China out in the Pacific, Putin with Ukraine and in Europe, or Iran attacking [our] military forces. All of them are challenging America, challenging our credibility, and trying to send out the message that, ‘We can do things to America, and America either has no will to fight or no longer has the capability to resist.’
“As far as the Middle East is concerned, I have two fundamental concerns. The first is a broader war that Israel finds itself in, a broader war with Hezbollah. You’ve already seen the attacks from the Houthis. So they have to balance getting rid of Hamas, which they have to do without triggering a broader conflict; it’s a tightrope.
“But the second thing that’s happening simultaneously and related to it is these Iranian groups are attacking U.S. soldiers. The pace is increasing; they are increasingly using more sophisticated weapons and more sophisticated methods and tactics, and I believe, before long, it will expand beyond just Syria and Iraq to target U.S. forces in other places like the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait or inside Jordan.
“My biggest fear is the events following the escalation. I don’t want a war with Iran, but right now, we have no deterrent. The failure to establish a deterrent with Iran by imposing consequences against them directly has the risk of escalation, but not doing so has the guarantee of escalation. Right now, Iran is undeterred. They do not believe Joe Biden will do anything about it, and they actually believe they can kill American troops in the region as long as not too many of them and nothing will happen to them directly.”
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