Discussions concerning current affairs in the USA are often marked by lurches in one way or another: coverage can stem from a tweet to judicial indictments to a school shooting in the scope of a day. What is especially remarkable is how we Americans have seemingly forgotten how to focus on core issues having to do with our national security. Focus on the war in Afghanistan, the recent deaths of US Special Operators in Niger and even our ongoing combat operations against “Daesh” haven’t materialised into anything close to what it should.

This presents an especially dangerous situation regarding the United States and China. Most are probably aware of larger, well-publicized actions like China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, the recent proposed removal of presidential term limits from the Constitution or the actions it has taken to militarize the South China Sea in recent years. But what received little coverage is something that occurred in Congress two weeks ago.

On February 13, the directors of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The trio focused discussed the host of contemporary threats facing the US, but FBI director Christopher Wray’s remarks were a bombshell. He spoke to how China is seeking to undermine the US’s military, economic, cultural and information power around the world: “one of the things we’re trying to do is view the China threat as not just a whole-of-government threat, but a whole-of-society threat on their end. And I think it’s going to take a whole-of-society response by us.” DNI Dan Coates followed up by stating “there is no question that what you have just articulated is what’s happening with China. They’re doing it in a very smart way. They’re doing it in a very effective way. They are looking beyond their own region.”

Recent reporting of Chinese state investment in Latin America by Erica Pandey of Axios only echoes that reality. In early 2015, President Xi set an ambitious target of trading $500 billion in goods with Latin America by 2020 and providing $250 in direct investment – targets that seemed ludicrous at the time. But they are now well on track of meeting, or even exceeding, those targets. China even completed more than 40 investment deals with Mexico between 2014-16, a remarkable amount considering that no previous year had seen more than five deals at the most. This has led to increased levels of corruption and low-quality governance: Venezuela, for example, was the top recipient of Chinese investment between 2005-16. Not only does this situation violate the long-standing Monroe Doctrine, it also flies in the face of US goals for the region, which include strengthening governing institutions, “good governance,” fighting corruption and helping Latin American nations to develop their own strong, independent economies.

The testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee and recent Chinese forays into Latin America only build on other challenges China has made to the US in recent years. It has also sought to undermine important relationships between the US and its allies, hacked and stolen information from the likes of the Office of Personnel and Management and has even provided assistance to the Taliban and their fight against coalition forces in Afghanistan are just a few examples of such actions. Its alleged recent attempts to sway national politics in Australia and New Zealand – key US allies – and the fact that China’s governance system is authoritarian in nature and will apparently soon be run by a de-facto dictator makes one thing overwhelmingly apparent: that China is the top geopolitical foe – and threat – to the United States. It should be seen as such.