Donald Trump's advisor Steve Bannon warned the United States would go to war against China within the next 10 years over South China Sea islands - as well as being embroiled in another "major" Middle East war.
He made the comments in radio shows he hosted for right-wing website Breitbart in March 2016.
Mr Bannon serves as Mr Trump's chief strategist in the White House, where he plays a major role in Mr Trump's decision making.
He is an ex-military man, serving for seven years in the US Navy, where he eventually worked as a special aide to the Chief of Naval operations at the Pentagon - before heading far-right news website Breitbart.
It is believed these experiences shaped his core ideas about the power of the US military and the importance of controlling that power.
"We're going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years," Mr Bannon said.
"There's no doubt about that. They're taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those. They come here to the United States in front of our face - and you understand how important face is - and say it's an ancient territorial sea."
He saw similarities between the spread of China's influence, and the rise of radical Islam - and believed that they both aimed at overthrowing the Western order.
"You have an expansionist Islam and you have an expansionist China. Right? They are motivated. They're arrogant. They're on the march. And they think the Judeo-Christian west is on the retreat," Mr Bannon said in a February 2016 radio show.
He also argued that the US would be involved in another conflict in the Middle East.
"Some of these situations may get a little unpleasant," Mr Bannon said in November 2015.
"But you know what, we're in a war. We're clearly going into, I think, a major shooting war in the Middle East again."
Newshub.
