Trump or Biden will need support from allies to keep China in check, H.R. McMaster says
President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor said Monday that the winner of the presidential election next month will need to elicit the help of the international community in order to rein in a more ambitious and aggressive China.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Trump’s second national security advisor, described China as the biggest national security threat facing the United States.
“I think whoever gets sworn in on Jan. 20 has to ramp up international coordination and cooperation,” McMaster said in an interview on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
“Since the 1990s, China has increased their military spending 800%. It’s the largest peacetime military buildup in history,” he said, adding that the Chinese government has also “been much more aggressive at exporting its authoritarian mercantilist model abroad.”
“This isn’t just a U.S.-China problem, this is a free world-China problem, and if the world’s largest economies work together to counter Chinese economic aggression as well as physical aggression, I think we can go a long way in convincing Xi Jinping that his aggressive strategy is not working,” McMaster said.
The crumbling relationship between Washington and Beijing has intensified following an attempt from the world’s two largest economies to mend trade relations.
Reference: CNBC
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