Mike Waltz, China Hawk Reported to Become Trump’s National Security Adviser

President-elect Donald Trump has asked Rep. Mike Waltz to be his White House national security adviser, according to multiple media outlets.

Waltz, the first Green Beret veteran to serve in Congress, was deployed in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.

The Florida congressman is a member of the House China Task Force, collaborating with Republican lawmakers to develop policies on China. He has introduced legislation aimed at decreasing American dependency on Chinese minerals.

“South America offers a wide array of critical minerals that are needed to power our modern economy. It’s against our strategic interests for China to try and monopolize these exports and install military bases that can be used against us should a conflict arise over Taiwan’s sovereignty,” he said, referring to China’s claim on self-ruling Taiwan.

He has also spearheaded efforts to help American universities and academies guard against Chinese espionage.

In May, Waltz said that the United States must do more to block fast-growing Chinese influence in the Caribbean and Latin America after Newsweek’s report on China’s extensive involvement on the island of Antigua, located less than 1,500 miles from Miami.

“The alarm bells are ringing over China’s increased presence in our hemisphere,” said Waltz, also a member of the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Waltz told Newsweek America’s 19th century Monroe Doctrine should be renewed as part of more vigorous U.S. engagement in the region. That policy held that any intervention in the political affairs of a state in the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act and that the U.S. would protect its sphere of interest.

“We also have a Chinese spy base in Cuba that is 100 miles away from Florida, Chinese ownership of the port on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, and debt diplomacy in the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian while we still don’t even have an ambassador. This is a clear and present threat to our country given the sophistication of the CCP’s espionage operations,” Waltz said.

“We need a new Monroe Doctrine that specifically looks to block the economic and military influence of China,” Waltz said.

This is a developing news story and will be updated with more information.

Update: 11/11/24, 7:27 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.