Texas Senator Says China is a Bigger Threat to the United States than Russia or Iran

Chinese soldiers ride in tanks as they pass in front of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City during a military parade in Beijing, China, on Sept. 3, 2015. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) sounded a warning about China in a high-profile speech on Nov. 14. China’s state-controlled, authoritarian political and economic system is a serious threat to the long-term interests of the United States, one even more severe than those posed by Russia or Iran, Cornyn said.

“It is time for the U.S. to adopt a new policy on China, one that doesn’t shrink from China’s challenges,” said Cornyn in the keynote address to the Center for Strategic and Independent Studies’s ChinaPower Conference.