<p>A top CIA expert on Friday described China&rsquo;s behavior towards the United States as a &ldquo;quiet kind of cold war&rdquo; that aims to replace America as the dominant world power. ;</p>
<p><em>And ;we&#8217;re not talking about Beijing&#8217;s immature trade war with the Trump Administration. ;</em></p>
<p>&#8220;I would argue&#8230;that what they&#8217;re waging against us is fundamentally a cold war &#8211; a cold war not like we saw during THE Cold War but a cold war by definition,&#8221; said Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA&#8217;s East Asia mission center.</p>
<p>China&rsquo;s efforts to undermine the United States include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Intellectual property theft</li>
<li>Infiltration of US campuses ;</li>
<li>Expanded global influence</li>
<li>Increased defense spending and military modernization ;</li>
<li>Unfair trade deals ;</li>
</ul>
<p>According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, China represents the most significant threat to the US in terms of counterintelligence. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The volume of it. The pervasiveness of it. The significance of it is something that I think this country cannot underestimate,&rdquo; said Wray, adding that the FBI has active investigations related to China in all 50 states.</p>
<p>At the same time, Washington desperately needs China&rsquo;s help if it wants to end the nuclear standoff with North Korea. ;</p>
<p>In March, China announced a defense budget of $175 billion and ;said ;it would have the ;most powerful military force in the world by 2050. China already has the largest ground force, the third-largest air force, and a navy with over 300 ships.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All of this is in the process of being modernized and upgraded,&rdquo; ;said Marcel Lettre, a former defense official who ;sat on a panel this week with Collins at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.</p>
<p>Lettre also noted China&rsquo;s aggressive pursuit of space technology, artificial intelligence, and anti-satellite capabilities. Experts believe China has already developed long-range cruise missiles capable of reaching supersonic speeds.</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> The intel community gets it. Trump gets it. The liberal media does not get it.</p>