US Got China Wrong, But Trump Is Turning Things Around, Expert Says

Bill Gertz gives a speech entitled "The China Threat 2.0: Beijing's Use of Asymmetric Warfare Capabilities in Seeking Global Supremacy" at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Sept. 28, 2018. Jennifer Zeng/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—“‘Did we get China wrong?’ The issue to me is resoundingly ‘yes,’” says Bill Gertz, senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon and one of the leading journalists on national-security issues.

“The good news is, there has been a major shift by the Trump administration in its focus on China,” Gertz said while speaking at a Defense Forum Foundation luncheon on Sept. 28 in Washington.

How Did We Get China Wrong?

Gertz said the United States misunderstood China back when he published his book “The China Threat” in 2000 and has continued that lack of understanding since. As an example, he recalled how a three-star general, who was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, insisted to him that China wasn’t a threat “because they said they are not a threat.”