John Bolton says China engaged in ‘asymmetric warfare’

China is engaged in an “asymmetric warfare” campaign in the United States aimed at influencing public opinion and weakening Americans’ faith in their institutions, former National Security Advisor John Bolton said.

“Chinese influence operations in this country, and efforts really to fragment us politically, are definitely underestimated. I think we’re still learning a lot about it,” Bolton told host John Catsimatidis Sunday on WABC 770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable” show.

“Some of them, like the Confucius Institutes at universities, are just propaganda centers. That’s becoming more evident. We’ve got to wake up to this threat. We have not been willing to see it,” said Bolton, 74.

The US government and citizens are more aware of China’s efforts to undermine America economically through the stealing of economic property and bullying allies including Taiwan, he explained.

“But this attempt to influence our public opinion without letting anybody know they’re doing it, that’s much more insidious, and, in the long term, more dangerous,” said Bolton, who served as the White House national security adviser under former President Donald Trump.

Bolton said the popularity of TikTok, the Chinese-linked mobile video platform popular with over one billion users worldwide and 150 million in the US, according to the company, is a case in point.

“It’s like the story of the Pied Piper. The Chinese developed this. They’ve got people almost hooked on it. And it’s something they can use to reel in people later,” he said.

On growing tensions between the US and China, Bolton said while the US remains “the dominant power militarily,” China’s strategy is to use “asymmetric warfare.”

“To engage in cyber-attacks. To try to influence operations. To cut to undercut us economically. Never to confront us militarily because they know ultimately what the outcome would be. But to weaken American resolve. Weaken faith in our institutions. And to do it in a variety of different ways,” he said.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo met with Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China Wang Wentao last week in an effort to smooth tensions between the two superpowers.

The relationship has been on the rocks, particularly after a Chinese spy balloon invaded US airspace earlier this year.