President Trump was the first “leader who understood that the Chinese have been in the Cold War with us for decades and now we are finally taking steps to fight,” former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland said on Wednesday.
McFarland made the comment the same day that China condemned what it called an “unprecedented escalation” by the United States and threatened to retaliate after being ordered to close the Chinese consulate in Houston.
In a statement sent to Fox News, State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus confirmed the directive and said it was issued “to protect American intellectual property and the private information of Americans.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, tweeted his support Wednesday for the closure of a Chinese consulate in Houston, alleging that the espionage activity was carried out through the facility.
McFarland said Rubio is “right.”
“The Chinese are using their presence in the United States, whether in universities, in corporations, in their consulates and diplomatic facilities, they use it to spy,” he said. “They use it to steal our intellectual property rights, they use it in many ways that we never use our businesses or our students abroad or our diplomatic facilities.”
On Monday, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 11 Chinese companies for the use of forced labor and other forms of repression against Uighur Muslims, an ethnic minority in China, including some with documented relationships with American companies.
The sanctions represent another step by the administration in its increased pressure on the Chinese government in recent months.
When asked what Chinese retaliation would look like, McFarland said, “They will do an eye for an eye.”
“They will do something to maybe close a consulate that we have somewhere in China,” he continued.
McFarland also noted that “the Chinese have been in the Cold War with us for decades.”
He then pointed to some “signs” of a Cold War, including the fact that “many of our trade agreements with the Chinese have exploited” and “our intellectual property rights.”
“They have stolen billions of dollars in US research and development,” he continued, adding, “When the pandemic hit, the Chinese knew they had a pandemic and unleashed it in the world with great intention.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“To me, those are all signs of a Cold War, not of fighting military equipment, but of cyber attacks, biological weapons attacks, other spies and other theft of intellectual property,” said McFarland. “It is a war. We are just waking up here. ”
Fox News’ Brie Stimson, Ronn Blitzer and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
