China is America's number one adversary and we're not sufficiently prepared to deal with them: Mark Esper

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China is serious about taking over Taiwan: Esper

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper discusses the rise of China's military on 'Special Report.'

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper explains what Americans need to understand about China's military rise and their willingness to invade Taiwan on "Special Report."

MARK ESPER: I think they've [China] always been looking seriously at taking over Taiwan and I think they're studying the Russian successes and failures and trying to figure out how they could do better. Look, I regard China as our number one strategic adversary in this century, and we need to prepare for that and I don't think we are doing so sufficiently now. The other thing I note, though, is I hope Taipei is taking lessons from Ukraine, seeing the exceptional leadership of President Zelenskyy and right now, Taiwan should be thinking about: How do they improve their territorial defenses? How do they up their defense budget? How do they buy the right equipment for the fight they need to fend off the Chinese? I start getting concerned that folks will get wobbly when Taiwan, which is half a world away from Europe, will see less, will appear to be less in their front yard than it is today. 

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Whether it's diplomatic, economic, their counterintelligence and espionage, their theft of our intellectual property, all these things make clear that we're going have to deal with China and we need to orient ourselves and again, right now, I don't think in all those areas we're in the position we need to be.  

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

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