WATCH: China believes U.S. is an ‘existential threat’

Experts are sounding alarms on the burgeoning threat directed toward the U.S. from the People’s Republic of China, as Chinese nationals living in America maintain close ties with the Chinese Communist Party, infiltrating American political offices, and businesses.

During an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria,” Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang said China absolutely views the U.S. as an existential threat, especially to communist rule.

Chang noted the Chinese are willing to go to great lengths to undermine America, including its elections. after Microsoft recently reported China, Russia, and Iran have been caught attempting to influence the upcoming presidential vote.

“China is putting much more effort on down-ballot contests, and it’s really far down the ballot. So for instance, in June in the New York State Democratic Party Primaries, they went after a candidate in New York City who they felt was very much against CCP interests. So it’s not just senators, it’s not just congressmen, it’s all the way through the ballot,” Chang said.

Chang pointed out the Chinese have been “grooming” politicians throughout the Midwest, and added many Chinese nationals still maintain ties with the Chinese government.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has filed an emergency lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden administration officials after a Chinese migrant with a rare, drug-resistant tuberculosis entered the U.S. illegally and has now potentially exposed hundreds of people to the disease.

“This particular migrant was released into the general population while she still had tuberculosis, so that is certainly a dangerous line. This says to Beijing that they can do what they want in terms of spreading disease in the U.S. Remember that secret Chinese biological weapons lab in Reedley, California, had at least 20 pathogens and almost 1,000 mice that had been genetically engineered to spread disease,” Chang said.

Chang noted there is nothing stopping China from developing more transmissible, and deadly diseases into the U.S., including diseases like ebola.

“China can develop a disease, it will not affect the carrier, but it will sicken or kill everybody else, and right now with releasing these people into the United States, it means that China says ‘why don’t I send over a whole pack of migrants with something like ebola … Ebola has a 50% natural kill rate, now China we know is weaponizing this at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, if they can figure out how to make it more transmissible or maybe more fatal, they have a disease to exterminate the American population, and remember extermination is a topic that is permitted in China’s totally controlled public square, and Chinese officials have secretly talked about exterminating every American,” Chang said.

When asked why it always feels like America is playing catch-up and why does the U.S. not anticipate the extreme lengths that China could do in the U.S., and prevent them before they happen, Chang said it is simply because Americans are choosing to ignore their enemy.

“We think that God has given us a right to ignore what our enemies are saying and doing. We did that with Osama Bin Laden until one day; and we’re doing it with China right now. China is not hiding what it is saying, it declared a people’s war on us, which they say is a toll war, they talk about us in malicious terms almost every day, and we have a political system that says ‘oh we can cooperate with the Chinese,’ well no, they believe they must destroy the U.S.,” Chang said.

Chang pointed out the relationship between the U.S. and China can never flourish while the CCP remains in power in China because they despise American culture and values.

“They believe we’re an existential threat, and it’s not because of anything we say or do … it’s because of who we are. They’re worried about the inspirational impact of American values in form of governance on the Chinese people, which means we’ll never have amicable relations with China as long as the Chinese Communists rule it,” Chang said.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has released its latest report on some of the biggest challenges facing the U.S., and the People’s Republic of China, specifically its expanding nuclear program, is causing the greatest amount of concern.

According to the report; Nuclear Challenges: The Growing Capabilities of Strategic Competitors and Regional Rivals – China has outpaced previous growth estimates, stockpiling 500 nuclear warheads since 2018. It is estimated China will further accelerate their stockpiles, doubling it by 2030 to over 1,000 operational nuclear warheads – which are able to reach the U.S.

Furthermore, China wants more lower-yield nuclear warhead capability to use as backup if China’s larger nuclear weapons fail to deliver.

“China is undergoing the most rapid expansion and ambitious modernization of its nuclear forces in history – almost certainly driven by an aim for enduring strategic competition with the U.S. and a goal to actualize intensified strategic concepts that have existed for decades but are now being realized,” the report states.

The report notes this buildup of nuclear capabilities will be the fastest and the largest in China’s history, which includes ground mobile, air-launched, and submarine-launched weapons, in an effort to challenge the global world order.

“China probably will introduce new capabilities which carry the potential to destabilize the status quo over the next decade as it develops concepts for new systems’ use and integrates them into its broader warfighting and deterrence doctrine,” the report states.

Beijing has had a non-first-use policy regarding the use of nuclear weapons for decades, calling for a collective commitment from other nuclear powers to do the same. However, the DIA stated in the report that China could consider striking first if threatened with nuclear force, and added a nuclear strike is also possible if China was faced with defeat over Taiwan – which China claims in its entirety.

“Coupled with PLA [People’s Liberation Army] officers downplaying the risks of imperfect information management during crises, inexperience managing nuclear crises, and their perceptions that they can elicit intended adversary responses while maintaining sufficient battlefield awareness, Beijing may accept greater risks as its nuclear doctrine and capabilities mature,” the report states.

The DIA further noted China is planning to continue upgrades to “all three legs of its nuclear triad,” including upgrades to existing weapons systems.

“This force is intended to ensure China can inflict unacceptable damage with both proportionate and overwhelming retaliatory capabilities, thus denying an adversary victory if a conflict escalates to the nuclear domain,” the report states.