Particularly with china. I refunded . A variety of individuals and corporations. We dont accept any corporate or foreignon money. Several headlines got our attention that w says chinas military has surpassed us in ships and missiles and air defense. Talking about conventional weapons first. So what is the strength of the Chinese Military . Its very impressive. Its daunting. Remember the United States spends more on total that china has been closing the gap and exclusively focused on its own region. So that the age in the pacific the most recent is shifting in chinas direction. Thirty or 40 years ago the Chinese Military was a sophisticated force is no longer the case and they are closing the gap in key areas and that trend is continuing. Mr. Cole be the headline of the Nuclear Arsenal that tells us the china plans to double the nuclearhi arsenal. Talk about that part of the equation. The conventional event is more sobering. It is slated to doubleed in size from a low amount what is concerning to ensure it has the second strike to retaliate against this no matter what we do. And then considering some yield options. This could cast a greater shadow overli allied activity of the western pacific taiwan or the philippines or japan. Host a pentagon report on chinasta military they say the Chinese Communist party, ccp, claims a strategy to realize longheld national aspirate aspirations to return china to strength and prosperity and leadership on the world stage. Actually people are interested i coauthored a piece on the Foreign Affairs website the other day and our argument there is its not primarily about ideology but largely the degree of power that china has. It is partly ideological that since the entrance of the United Statesce itself. This is a massive solar system influence the has a gravitational pull one pull so to gain hegemony over the region to create our market area centered around china and for longterm prosperity in the United States cant afford that because as i said earlier asia is the Worlds Largest market and that would bravely diminish american prosperity. And china is developing on military consistent with these goals. Host heres the piece in Foreign Affairs ideology delusion in the current edition, americas competition with china is not about doctrine. With the asian part of the world . With that strategy under jim matus continued including the secretary of defense esper. So we need to laser focused in asia. And then they began to vector but with that requisite urgency and then to be much more economical and the middle east. Europe is our second priority but it is much less severe and the allies are much stronger to play a larger role. Longterm you will see more focus on asiapacific and china and in other theaters in the middle east and europe. Host our guest is Elbridge Colby formally with the Defense Department d former Defense Deputy assistant secretary our first caller from pennsylvania. Caller. I was wondering about the border dispute on the himalayans with china . Something that president mentioned at the News Conference what kind of battles does china have with india recently thats a slongstanding issue . A great question and it is striking. It goes back when they had a border war in 1962. What is striking is china is pushing out in all directions following the old model of by your time they pull in their horns and build their strength pushinga seems to be sout taiwan, india, vietnam there have been some pretty scary instances. And with the Chinese Military no real resolution and just to drive further into the United States which is something that is critical and in the coming years with australia playing a critical role. To me it is a little bit of a mystery and when they feel that they say why are we putting aside these disputes . To that china deserves to be respected. Good morning. You have quite the impressive resume. The first question when we were making the decision to go to iraq, was bush misled about the wmd . Even on the day of 9 11 he was verbally telling aides to link this to saddam somehow. Where does that come from . Youu are there can you talk about it . This is a great question thank you for your words you may have seen i looked in the commission why the intelligence was wrong. You can check with my contemporaries i always thought it was a mistake that i dont think president bush acted out of bad faith. He and Vice President cheney and others seem tos se believe e possibility of iraq reconstituting another wmd program is enough to necessitate an invasion of the country and they were more optimistic and they thought it would set an example for other countries and with terrorism issues it didnt work out that way. In terms of the intelligence i think he was misled i think they generally believe that iraq would reconstitute of the wmd program the famous example is a biological weapons analyst who told deputy secretaryy of defense it is worth remembering theres a few countries at the time. So they were genuine mistakes. And then at the beginning stages to regain and i fear in the Bush Administration its hard to put them back in the box. Despite all that its a mistake but it was a hard call. Host take us back to china and the us when it comes to Nuclear Weapons. The us currently has 6000 Nuclear Weapons and china estimated the low two hundreds. Put that into perspective. To what extent are they looking . In the Nuclear Realm is not that meaningful but that 3800 number is not dad is deployed. The numbers can be a bit misleading the china always wants to avoid the mistakes the soviet union made to get in an arms race. So there are looking to have enough Nuclear Weapons that they can be sure to blow up the american targets that we care about. And that we would be willing to fight in the pacific is enough to pass say dark shadow. Not that we can fight an additional war but its enough to prevent us from nuclear blackmail. The chinese believed the us used Nuclear Weapons to blackmail them. Im worried about the conventional forces of the indications in the report because this would give china intermediate options that would be more plausible which is almost certainly everything would happen if a war did break i out. Host breeding russia into the conversation because the us is in talks rightno now about the future of their deals talk about us and china and russia and the situation plays off of itself. In my view its a serious danger and to make sure cannot use itself against nato with the pentagon and elsewhere the Trump Administration has done a lot to strengthen the t position. But longterm and then to encourage distance between beijing and moscow. But we dont want the fifties and sixtiesd and closer than they have been since that time. We should look for opportunities while protecting her own interest and Election Security to put some distance between the russian and t the chinese in a command for opening those bilateral discussions because that extension would be in the us interest in that context into be in a stronger negotiating position on arms control issues. Caller good morning. Good morning, america. Mr. Called the, i find it fascinating. I wrote down three questions i will just roll through them. And the part about american china. And are they stealing the intellectual property . Why are they doing business with them . So why should americans feel dofor corporations that abandon them . And here is the caveat what was the trade deal with russia . Not russia but nixon. But i never knew what the deal was. And it looks like to me we are getting a ride deal but we are loving it because our corporations are running overr there. Host a little bit of history and a little bit of present day. Speak to economics in the larger conversation. What would you say . . Thinks. I dont know i think nixon and kissinger made the right decision at the time and then in our camp at the soviet union at the time they actually fought a border war it was pretty blood he and there were fears of conflict and china had a shared interest but they work through those closely to balance the soviets. It was a successful policy. That doesnt mean is still a good policy but its long past time to change. I share your point obviously they are vital for american prosperity but those who defend the policy toward china , this is not my area but a lot of corporations benefited that essentially they became multinationals and headquartered in thehe United States. Thats fine but trade deal should be done in the interest of the American People primaril primarily. I dont think people act in bad faith but actually in fairness a lot of corporation on corporations have had with china with it theft the competitors to steal their market share. The indians have banned almost all chinese apps. They banned ticktock. So we have to have a relationship but have a clear eye and not be naive. Host new jersey good morning. Caller good morning. Is there any way to ascertain the Chinese NationalDefense Budget is used for domestic control . I will take your answer off the air. Thats a great question. I off the top of my o head. And it is a sizable fraction of security spending. But the main concern for us is and that is part of their external military capability. And then upwards close to ten countries all over the region i dont think we should let that distract from those activities. My from thehe pentagon report the modernization and expansion provides opportunities as well as challenges and the military development with the miscalculation puts a premium on risk reductionan efforts to ensure the operational safety of forces or in close proximity,. I am for that. Its important to emphasize that i participate in some of these official discussions. But that part of that discussion with china there was a bumper the american aircraft. So there are communication mechanisms that china has to pick up the phone. This calculation is not the primary problem its hard to find examples of conflicts during the cold warar for instance those that went down in the communist bloc without it escalating so they usually escalate because they are prepared to. Its important that we shouldnt focus on it too much. Host under what circumstances did you leave the administratio administration . The primary thing was and that was completed so i had the. Host as a former defense over the atlanticon story where the president av had made disparaging comments about troops . I have no direct knowledge except to say that i never heard of the president say anything like that. So that strikes me you should have your sources lockdown but under the Trump Administration and the military has gotten more funding his respect is clear for the troops. But it doesnt ring true to me. Good morning. Why is it that you dont believe are doesnt interest syou what the gentle man said about our military we have a lot of news media we have russia flying near our airspace and other pilots, russia trying to take over the north pole. Russia assassinating people. You want to talk about china talkingthat is a point with the trump. You will not divert. He didnt say i will send my family members into war. So you all need toy stop it is juster like the nra or what he had for militaries it was a houck on a hoax. Because he will be voted at out of there and now i will be resolved. Host is there anything you want to respond to . I appreciate your point of view. Thank you for youres comments on the issue that you raised but its a pale threat of what chinath can do you how they are being so the question is you increasingly see that coming into the public view and actually its a bipartisan view. Russia discussion is very difficult. But we have to be very careful. The Nuclear Weapons are dangerous but what what we dont want is a highly product that one political situation to break off the second tier in the fifties the loss of chinana created an immense political he did and we could not engage with china which is awful. They killed more but to enable government at that time but this is one of the have problems to get us into vietnam and then putting more pressure on north vietnamese because of the nasty politics that these and sixties that while the people that condemn on condone russia we also look at this in a strategic lens and to your point but you have to look at the most powerful and dangerous country in the system and focus they are. That is what im doing and thats of the pentagon is doing. It is important we be clear in our thinkingg. Host a call from michigan. Caller thank you very much. A question of Chinese Nationals that live and work in our c a country. I have colleagues that work in the country. They are chinese, some of them live on the border of canada. So should we have any concern as citizens about espionage . Is there any potential concern of these citizens that work in our country with access to data . First off we want to be careful and selective if we are to suspicious that can be unfair. I know thats not what you mean but especially we want to make sure we are fair to people of chinese background obviously who some are american citizens. I say that up front but Chinese Nationals are citizens of the peoples republic of chin china, there is a security concern as have been made clear particularly in the areas sensitive data. I wouldnt want to contribute to any kind of paranoia but it seems the peoplesle republic operates with a comprehensive vacuum is called the 10000 Talents Program and the chinese outreach. It is pretty comprehensive versus others focusing on washington dc. Again im not an expert but i would defer to the fbi and department of justice they are very concerning about the administrations actions of the prc National Students but we need to balance them with concerns of fairness and equality and access. It is a tough issue but a real one. Host one last call South Carolina good morning, james. Caller good morning. I have a problem with that guy me named howard and made a mistake about russia and china left everyone over here so they could still steal our technology. Under obama what will mr. Biden do with the one. 5 bi . I wouldnt comment on not political stuff that in terms of the scale of what they are doing is much more serious. One thing i have heard smart people that as with anything you should be worried about the one who picks his fights we are finally getting around to focusing on the main challenge. Host the former and cofounder principle of the marathon initiative. Thank you for your time cambridge continues with former Vice President biden speaking in michigan. Then at 3 00 oclock p. M. Vice president pence attend an event in pennsylvania. The Senate VeteransAffairs Committee holds a hearing on Suicide Prevention in providing Mental Health care that is all lie that cspan. Org