The People’s Republic of China presently serves as the most pressing threat to U.S. national security and economic stability, according to U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks).

Rogers, the lead Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, recently joined Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America” to discuss the growing threat posed by the nation’s top foreign adversary.

The congressman was joined in the interview by U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who serve as lead Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, respectively.

When asked to opine on how the United States should view China as relations become increasingly hostile, Rogers asserted that American leadership should recognize the communist regime as the “most dominant threat” to the homeland.

“Well, the thing that we’ve got to keep in mind is that China has global aspirations,” Rogers told host Trey Gowdy. “Their Belt and Road initiative is a 50-year initiative to become both an economic and a military superpower, and we’ve got to recognize that is our pacing threat. While we’ve got to be concerned about what’s happening in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.”

“The most dominant threat that we have to our national interests is China and we’ve got to be focused on that,” he added. “That’s why we’re making a real pivot in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, the defense bill, towards the INDOPACOM domain. To make sure we’re prepared to take on aggression from China which has become more menacing lately with the threat on Taiwan.”

According to Rogers, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the United States had “lazily” become dependent upon China for goods.

“The biggest threat is that we still haven’t gotten China out of our supply chain. We have made it a goal. We expect to have them out within the next couple of years,” advised the congressman. “But I think if the pandemic taught us anything, meaning the western world, it’s that all of us have allowed ourselves lazily to become dependent on China for far too much of our lives. That’s got to be changed, and we’re making steps in that direction.”

“[W]e’ve got to recognize that being able to feed and clothe ourselves in this country is a matter of national security, and we can’t depend on other countries to be able to help us do that. Militarily or otherwise,” concluded Rogers.

Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL