Blaine Holt: U.S. Must Dominate AI Race and Not Trust Beijing, Warns of Emerging Arms Competition

Retired Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax that the United States is locked in a Cold War-style strategic competition with China and an emerging artificial intelligence (AI) arms race, and that Washington cannot afford to place its trust in deals with Beijing.

Speaking on Saturday Report, Holt said President Donald Trump was right to resist calls for the U.S. to slow its AI development. He argued that China’s leadership is aspirational, unreliable, and vulnerable in ways the United States should exploit strategically.

U.S. Push To Lead In AI

This month, the Trump administration announced an "AI Force" modeled on the Space Force and named an AI czar to coordinate national AI policy, framing technological leadership as a matter of national survival. Holt praised those moves as necessary to ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of rapidly evolving AI capabilities.

"We have an AI arms race that's nascent and underway, and this technology will evolve. We must lead. We must be in charge of this all the time," Holt said.

Concerns About Chinese Influence And Trustworthiness

Holt said American strategy should account for Beijing’s rhetoric about supplanting U.S. influence and treat the rivalry as a full-spectrum contest. He urged stronger domestic counterintelligence measures, including protecting universities and research institutions from infiltration and espionage.

"We're going to have to first clean our house and get rid of Chinese infiltration and spying, and we're going to have to protect our universities," Holt said. "We have to keep moving the goalposts and keep being in charge."

He was blunt about the prospect of formal arms-control or safety agreements with China. "I have no compunction whatsoever that the Chinese would follow any treaty, any protocol. They lie all the time. So anything you would sign with them, they will cheat on the next hour," Holt said.

Beijing's Domestic Politics And The Fifth Plenum

Holt noted Chinese domestic pressures after Xi Jinping returned from a U.S. visit, calling the upcoming Fifth Plenum — a closed-door Communist Party session scheduled for Oct. 26–29 — a "political buzzsaw" likely to focus on discipline, anti-corruption purges and personnel reshuffles that could affect dozens of Central Committee seats.

He argued that those internal political dynamics increase the strategic importance of sustained U.S. leadership in AI and broader technology competition.

Allegations Around Iran And Chinese Technology

Holt cited recent intelligence concerns to illustrate his point. U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC, in remarks reported by Reuters, that President Trump warned Xi that any Chinese assistance to Iran — whether intelligence, parts or military equipment — would be unacceptable. Perdue later said Beijing assured Washington it was not providing such support.

U.S. officials have told Axios that Iran used high-resolution imagery from Chinese commercial satellites to target U.S. bases and Navy ships in the Middle East, prompting changes to U.S. military operational procedures.

Closing Remarks

Holt closed with a stark appraisal of Xi’s political standing, saying Xi is "probably presiding over what I would say is the last emperorship of the Mao Dynasty," a comment meant to highlight the high domestic stakes within China’s leadership.

Note: This report includes statements made on Newsmax and cited remarks from public officials and media reports. Readers should consider multiple sources when evaluating geopolitical and intelligence-related claims.