The United States has failed to send a "clear message" against China's support of Russia in its war with Ukraine, retired Air Force brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said Monday.
Appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Holt said Washington has to be sharply critical of Bejing's activities around the world.
"The clear message would be, 'We're going to reevaluate the relationship because you're killing 100,000 Americans a year' [with fentanyl]," he said. "The clear message would be, 'You're taking seas on the high seas that don't belong to you.' The clear message would be, 'Your [infrastructure] Belt and Road Initiative is basically extorting money from the entire world,' and these are unacceptable things."
Holt also lamented the beat of "war drums" in the U.S., and the declaration by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that there's "no higher priority" than U.S. support of Ukraine.
"We need to keep supporting the Ukrainians the best we can," Holt said. "We need to do it within the margins of our ability to do so logistically and financially. But I find it very curious, extremely curious, that the Chinese can fly spy balloons menacingly over our a nation and invade our nation with fentanyl and spies, and that doesn't get our blood going.
"But the administration and Senator McConnell see them selling weapons to Russia and, boy, it's on. That is unacceptable."
Holt is also skeptical of China's interest in seeing an end to Russia's war against Ukraine.
"It's a really brilliant propaganda style move on the Chinese part … we've seen zero interest in diplomatic outcomes this year, then China gets ahead of us in the rhetoric, and they want to put themselves out there as some sort of peacemaker on a piece of paper," Holt said. "That's ridiculous."
Holt said any candidate for the 2024 presidential election "should reasonably stand up and say, 'Here are the elements of strategy I would consider as I stepped into that role.'"
"This is a very troubling war," Holt said. "It's the war we have now, not the one we could have deterred a year ago, and now we have to come together and figure out how we're going to bring this to a conclusion so that the world doesn't constantly look at nuclear threats in World War III," Holt said.
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