In a Monday interview, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lent credibility to a recent ominous statement by four-star Air Force General Mike Minihan, who projected that America and China will be at war by 2025.
Pompeo made his comments during an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report,” warning that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “watching for American weakness.”
Minihan’s late January memo noted that he believes the U.S. will be in an all-out war with China in the next couple of years:
“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. Xi secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022. Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”
Minihan warned that China has proven it is capable of “unrepentant lethality.”
Pompeo responded to Minihan’s remarks, saying: “I take General Minihan to be serious, in the sense of he’s clearly very concerned that we’re not doing enough to prepare to deter the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pompeo added: “I think that’s what he was really getting at – it’s hard to put timelines on any of these things: he says 2025, but make no mistake about it, Xi Jinping is watching for American weakness. He’s watching for an absence of resolve. And if he sees opportunity, he will seize that very opportunity.”
Fox News previously noted that “Biden is soft on China” and that his policies embolden the communist nation with eyes on expansion.
A chorus of Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s handling of Taiwan and diplomatic efforts to reel in China.
New House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said Sunday that Biden administration policies make odds of a conflict with China by 2025 “very high.”
“I hope he’s wrong,” McCaul said of General Minihan. “I think he’s right, though, unfortunately.”
McCaul added: “We have to be prepared for this. And it could happen … as long as Biden is in office — projecting weakness as he did with Afghanistan that led to Putin invading Ukraine — that the odds are very high we could see a conflict with China and Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.”
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, disagreed, claiming the probability that America would go to war with China was “highly unlikely.”
Smith explained: “We have a very dangerous situation in China, but I think generals need to be very cautious about saying, ‘We’re going to war. It’s inevitable.’”
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