Threats are growing worldwide because of President Joe Biden's "debacle" in the Afghanistan withdrawal and that shows the dangers of having a weak president in office, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina, said Saturday in Iowa.
"There's a lot of threats coming to America," Haley said during her "Fair Side Chat" at the Iowa State Fair. "I mean, you've got Russia invading Ukraine. You've got Iran building a bomb. You've got North Korea testing ballistic missiles. You've got China on the march."
But, she said, "Make no mistake. None of that would have happened had we not had that debacle in Afghanistan."
She also told the fairgoers that Iowa is an important state, not only because it's where the first caucus of the election season is held, but also "because China's got its eyes set on Iowa."
"China is our No. 1 national security threat," she said. "They have been planning war with us for years. That's not being dramatic. Look at the infiltration that China has done. They bought up 400,000 acres of U.S. soil, most recently near Grand Forks Air Force Base. Right here in Iowa."
China has also bought the largest pork producer in the United States, said Haley.
"If you want to know what they want, they're going after every farmer," she added. "Iowans are very good at agribusiness and agriculture and technology. They are stealing seeds from Iowa because China is food insecure, so they are trying to figure out how to go take what we have so that they don't need us. That's leverage."
Food security is national security, said Haley.
She also pointed out China's role in the fentanyl crisis.
"We have more fentanyl that crossed the border last year that would kill every single American," said Haley. "The No. 1 cause of death for adults 18 to 49 is fentanyl. Don't think for a second China doesn't know what they're doing when they send it over."
China is also filling the United States universities with millions of dollars "to steal our research and spread Chinese propaganda," said Haley. "The Communist Party has Chinese front companies lobbying our Congress on their behalf. They steal $600 billion worth of intellectual property from us every year."
The Chinese also have the largest naval fleet in the world, with 350 ships, she said.
"They'll have 400 in two years. We won't even have 350 in two decades."
The Chinese have also come out with hypersonic missiles, said Haley, as well as artificial intelligence and space weaponry, and "they are now the biggest developer of neuro strike weapons, where they can engineer to change the brain activity of military leaders or groups of the population."
Haley pointed out that as an ambassador, she negotiated with both China and Russia.
"No one else on this stage has done that the way that I had to do it," she said. "You go to China, and you go to them with strength. The first thing is we make sure they no longer buy U.S. soil, and we take back what they've already purchased. We go to our universities, and we say, 'You either take Chinese money or you take American money. But the days of taking both are over.'"