Richard Berman

Say what you will about Donald Trump, but he’s right about one thing: China’s threat to America.

Chinese officials — whom the Republican nominee has derided as “cheaters” and “manipulators” — are perpetuating a trade war with the United States, and they are winning. In 2015, the U.S. purchased almost $500 billion worth of Chinese goods and services, while it only exported $165 billion worth of goods and services in return. According to a recent bipartisan commission report, Chinese companies steal more than $200 billion worth of American business secrets every year, putting U.S. companies at a disadvantage and their employees out of work.

“Made in the U.S.A” is as catchy a slogan as they come, but it remains an outlier in an increasingly interconnected world.

China’s strategy is simple: Wage war on America “by other means” — that is, nonmilitary activities under the radar.

Part of that plan is “economic warfare.” From making major investments in Africa to expanding its country’s trade surplus with the U.S., the Chinese Communist Party is intent on growing China’s economy. The Asian superpower now boasts a gross domestic product of roughly $12 trillion, ranking it second in the world behind the U.S. — but more than Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom combined. And, as Chinese officials recognize, economic might precludes political clout in the international arena.

This leads us to the second tenet of China’s soft-power strategy: “Political warfare.” Chinese officials are intent on expanding China’s “soft power” by acquiring cultural assets from foreign entities. President Xi Jinping has vowed to “strengthen China’s soft power” and “build its capacity in international communication.” In his words: “The stories of China should be well told, voices of China well spread, and characteristics of China well explained.”

To influence public opinion, the Communist Party spends about $10 billion annually on “external propaganda” alone.

In the U.S., it is aggressively acquiring major movie industry assets as a way of consolidating the film industry under a red flag. Through the Chinese firm Dalian Wanda — whose founder and chairman, Wang Jianlin, is a former Communist deputy — China has bought AMC Entertainment and Legendary Entertainment for multibillion-dollar sums. Wanda is now interested in purchasing at least a portion of Lionsgate and Paramount Pictures, as well as merging their AMC theaters with Carmike Cinemas by the end of the year. The latter would create the country’s largest movie theater chain with 8,380 screens in more than 600 cinemas nationwide.

To support the company’s endeavors, the Communist Party has provided Wanda with at least $1.1 billion in government subsidies. Chinese officials see the film industry as a powerful platform to promote pro-Chinese propaganda through movie production and distribution — one way of realizing President Xi’s “soft power” vision. By assuming control of U.S. film studios and movie theater chains, Wanda also assumes the ability to block any movie unapproved by the Communist Party from being shown in its theaters — casting China in a more favorable light at America’s expense.

It’s not a stretch. In 2015, Wanda financed “Southpaw” $25 million production budget, becoming the first Chinese firm to “solely finance an American movie.” And the company left fingerprints everywhere. According to David Glasser, president of Weinstein Company, which produced and marketed the film, “(Wanda was) involved — it wasn’t just a silent investment.” Glasser went even further: “They were on the set and involved in production, postproduction, marketing, everything.”

Wang Jianlin, a member of the People’s Liberation Army for nearly two decades, is a more-than-willing foot soldier. When Wang acquired Legendary for $3.5 billion, Wang called it “China’s largest cross-border cultural acquisition to date.” He has even admitted that the Communist Party’s soft-power policy is “very beneficial” to his company.

Donald Trump can read the tea leaves. The rest of us should too.

Richard Berman is president of Berman and Company.