Trump warns Biden administration taking the wrong approach to China: 'It shows such weakness'

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, said the Biden administration is taking the wrong approach to China, warning that the current messaging to Beijing shows "such weakness."

President Biden in September spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the second time. The White House said the president "made clear" that the discussion was "part of the United States’ ongoing effort to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC."

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After that call, the White House said that "the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict." And since, White House officials have said they "welcome stiff competition" between the U.S. and China.

But the former president said he doesn’t think the Biden administration’s strategy is effective.

"I don’t think it is a good way to express it to China," he told Fox News. "It shows such weakness. We have shown such weakness."

"China respected this country when I was president," Trump continued. "China does not respect our country any more. It is very sad." 

He added: "And even that message – that’s not a good message. It’s not an appropriate message." 

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During his administration, Trump in January 2020 signed a Phase 1 trade agreement with China, easing hostility between the world’s two largest economies amid decades of complaints that Beijing was manipulating its currency and stealing trade secrets from American firms.

That agreement included commitments from Beijing to halt intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate in financial services and purchase an additional $200 billion of U.S. products during 2020 and 2021.

Despite that agreement, intelligence officials toward the end of the Trump administration warned that China posed a grave national security threat to the United States.

The Biden administration, while engaging in "competition" with Beijing, has warned of the "reality" that China "has rapidly become more assertive" and is capable of "combining its economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system."

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Officials have also warned that China is the "only competitor" potentially capable of mounting a "challenge" to the international system.

The CIA last month announced the formation of the China Mission Center to counter China. 

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CIA Director William Burns said the China Mission Center will address the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China and emphasized that "the threat is from the Chinese government, not its people."

Burns said the new mission center will bring "a whole-of-Agency response" and will "unify the exceptional work CIA is already doing against the key rival."