Gordon Chang urges US to treat China as 'enemy combatant,' warns subs operating 'very close' to US

2026-03-05 15:46:18

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China accelerates submarine production as undersea arms race with US intensifies

Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to react to China ramping up submarine production, backing Iran and raising alarms over U.S. reliance on Chinese drones and AI competition.

Gordon Chang urged the United States to treat China as an “enemy combatant” Thursday, warning that Chinese submarines are operating “very close” to the U.S. homeland as Beijing reportedly expands its undersea footprint.

“Obviously, they do want subs to be able to get closer to the U.S.,” the Gatestone Institute senior fellow told “Mornings with Maria.”

“And, by the way, we have Chinese submarines in the Arctic, which would be very, very close to Alaska and the homeland, so this is really an important development, and we have got to make sure that we have the attack subs that can take out those ballistic missile submarines of the Chinese.”

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A man looks at a submarine during a media tour by the PLA Naval Museum in Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province, on June 25, 2025. (Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Chang’s warning comes after a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. adversary is “developing new submarine technology and a bigger, better fleet that is gaining on the United States and its allies.”

His warning also comes as China plans to send a special envoy to the Middle East for what Beijing describes as mediation efforts, as joint U.S.-Israeli strikes continue targeting Iranian regime sites.

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Smoke rises over Tehran after the Israeli army launches a second wave of airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“That envoy is going to try to stop the United States from attacking Iran,” Chang warned.

“Clearly, what we should be doing is ignoring this guy. The Chinese are an enemy combatant. That’s the way we should treat them.”

Chang argued that Beijing is not acting as a neutral broker, but as a key backer of Tehran, allegedly supplying weapon components while increasing commodity purchases and offering diplomatic and propaganda support.

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“Last year, 87.2% of Iran’s exports accrued went to China. It’s across-the-board support,” he said.

“So the United States just needs to say, ‘Look, we want to stop this.’ We have to also impose costs on China.”

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