China's economic threat

China's economy has made significant progress in recent years. Beijing befriended America's enemies by conducting trade, building alliances and forcing an economic dependency on smaller countries. China has also been amassing natural resources on the cheap by exploiting illiberal nations shunned by the U.S. For example, China has smithed deals with Iran, defying America's plan to choke the Islamic Republic's economic lifelines. Iran isn't the biggest market for Chinese

goods, but China can buy its oil at a lower price. Iran, too, is a crucial access point to the Middle East.

China also weaponizes its allies against the United States. Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) found that in addition to China, the most malicious cyberattacks in the U.S. come from China's allies: Iran and North Korea.

I asked Keith Krach, former undersecretary of state, for his opinion of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese government follows a “three Cs doctrine,” consisting of “concealment, co-option and coercion,” Krach said.

Krach also drew attention to two major objectives of Chinese President Xi Jinping. “One is regime preservation, and he'll do anything for that, and he has no regard for human life,” he said, continuing, “The second is global domination. And how he looks at the U.S. as an enemy — not as a competitor, but as an enemy.”

But don't take his word for it. In 2014, Xi Jinping himself said, “We're going to place researchers at your parallel lab in China. You're going to train them up in the U.S. so they can come back. You're going to take the federally funded research at your facility and run it in China, so we don't have to pay for it.”

China has been playing the long game over the past two decades in growing its influence over American institutions. Now, we are paying the price.