I'm John Bachelor with David Shed, the author with Andrew Badger of the new book, The Great Heist, China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets.

My colleague and friend and co-host, that is McCart of American Greatness, is here with me.

David, you close your book on an optimistic note of a scene at the National Security Council level, a meeting with the President,

and what is to be done in meeting with the Chinese going forward,

how to deal with the threat that apparently is ongoing, not only to the United States,

but all of our allies, all of our potential allies, even our frenemies.

And there's a meeting between the two leaders scheduled for the beginning of April, but is now

likely to be postponed for another month, about tariffs, which China very much wants to negotiate

to its favor.

And the U.S. at this point is unclear to me what the goal is

other than negotiating. What are the recommendations if the president is to go? What are the

recommendations that would be wise for the National Security Council to write up for the

president to present to Xi Jinping.

A few thoughts come to mind, but let's put it in context. The context is for the first time, and I believe it's about three decades, China's economic growth will fall under the

reported 5% or greater than 5% in gross domestic product this year.

And so it's not meeting its targets. I believe it's around 4.5%. And so Xi Jinping is concerned

about an economic recession, if not worse, in terms of China. And obviously, the tariffs are an issue related to that.

By way of recommendations to the president, I would certainly say be open and transparent in

demanding an end to this type of economic espionage that is taking, according to former FBI

director, Chris Ray, upwards of $600 billion in value in our

intellectual property. Secondly, make it very clear that we will play hardball when it comes to

criminal prosecutions of anyone found to be involved in this in terms of Chinese citizens or anybody else that are

...