During an interview that aired on PBS' NewsHour on Monday night, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain warned that China has indicated it's "trying to develop nuclear capability."
China's first test on a nuclear device; however, dates back to October of 1964.
After Cain said, "I do view China as a potential military threat to the United States," the following exchange took place between the former Godfather's Pizza CEO and PBS' Judy Woodruff:
JUDY WOODRUFF: And what could you do as president to head that off?
HERMAN CAIN: My China strategy is quite simply outgrow China. It gets back to economics. China has a $6 trillion economy and they're growing at approximately 10 percent. We have a $14 trillion economy -- much bigger -- but we're growing at an anemic 1.5, 1.6 percent. When we get our economy growing back at the rate of 5 or 6 percent that it has the ability to do, we will outgrow China.
And secondly, we already have superiority in terms of our military capability, and I plan to get away from making cutting our defense a priority and make investing in our military capability a priority, going back to my statement: peace through strength and clarity. So yes they're a military threat. They've indicated that they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.
In recent weeks, Cain has raised eyebrows with remarks he's made on a host of foreign policy issues.
During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network last month, Cain signaled he's prepared to tackle "gotcha" questions and said, "When they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I'm going to say you know, I don't know. Do you know?"
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Afghan President Hamid Karzai joked about the nature of the presidential candidate's remarks.
More recently, Cain found himself having to explain that he "misspoke" when he suggested he could imagine a situation in which he'd negotiate with terrorists as president.
During an interview on Fox News last week, Cain came to his own defense in response to criticism he's faced on his knowledge of foreign policy. As for his critics, he said, "I would say to them, do you think I'm dumb enough not to study up on these issues? I have been studying on these issues for months." He added, "I have been consulting with former ambassadors, former national security advisers, I have been consulting with a number of experts to get up to speed on some of the situations we have around the world."