China is “getting pretty close” to replacing the U.S. as the world’s superpower, according to a former Pentagon official.

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“They are closing in on us, and nobody really expected it to happen this fast, including the Chinese,” Michael Pillsbury, a Hudson Institute senior fellow who served as assistant undersecretary of defense for policy planning during the Reagan administration, said during an interview on FOX Business’ “Countdown to the Closing Bell.”

Pillsbury helped define the U.S. economic and military relationship with China for decades. The author of “The Hundred-Year Marathon” said China had established its own timeline of pulling even with the U.S. by 2020 and doubling its economy by 2030.

“You have to admire them, but they didn’t count on President Trump,” Pillsbury told FOX Business’ Liz Claman.

President Donald Trump has dispatched a U.S. trade delegation to Beijing on a two-day visit to avoid the escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs into a full-blown trade war.

“The dirty little secret that I think President Trump knows very well, only about half of their economy is free market,” Pillsbury said. “The other half is still under state control.”

The American delegation includes Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, trade adviser Peter Navarro and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow.