Threat of US-China war is rising: Former CIA officer

A former American counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the CIA says there is a possibility of nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia but the threat of war with China is also rising.

Philip Giraldi made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on a statement by former CIA deputy director Michael Morell who said a nuclear war with Russia, a biological weapons attack and climate change are the existential threats the United States is facing. 

Morell warned the United States was failing to pay attention to longer term issues, and said nuclear exchange with Russia was still a threat that had the capacity to “destroy” the US.  

“The second is a naturally occurring or man-made biological agent that kills 60 to 70 per cent of the population,” he said. “We don’t spend enough time on that.”

“And then the third, and some people may laugh at this but it’s absolutely true, is climate change. It’s an existential threat to the United States of America and if you don’t believe me look at Puerto Rico. This is an existential threat to us and obviously we’re not paying enough attention,” he said.

Giraldi said that’s “the simplistic way of looking at the world, and looking at the United States. The fact is that economic changes that the United States is failing to understand, and the geopolitical changes in terms of the way the developing world has begun to catch up with the advanced world.”

“These are all changes that are fundamental changes that will also change the United States,” he added.

“Yes, anyone would say that nuclear weapons and climate change could become disastrous, or war with Russia, but there’s also a possibility of war with China if we don’t do things correctly with China,” he noted.

“And there’s certainly a developing potentially very unpleasant situation with North Korea,” stated Giraldi, who is also a columnist and television commentator.

Earlier this month, a US military think tank also warned the possibility of a military confrontation between the United States and China has increased over the past years, noting that such a war would be deadlier than aver.

PressTV-US war with China more likely, deadlier: RAND

A renowned think tank with ties to the US military says a conflict between China and the US is more likely today compared to six years ago.

The RAND Corporation, which is based in California, said in its latest report that China’s military advancements and reforms have turned the country into a formidable foe.

Titled "Conflict with China Revisited," the report is a sequel to a similar report in 2011 and examines a range of contemporary scenarios that could prove to be catalysts for such a confrontation.

Topping the list of issues that might ignite a war between China and the US was the ongoing tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

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