With the possibility of a negotiated ceasefire that may include a land swap between Russia and Ukraine on the horizon, one foreign policy expert is warning that the potential deal could continue to pave the way for China’s communist regime to further its vision of world domination.

On Tuesday, Gordon Chang, an author and a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, joined “Washington Watch” to break down how extensive the ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) actually are as the Ukraine war negotiations unfold.

“I think that the Chinese are looking at what an eventual settlement will be, and if Russia gets to keep Ukrainian territory — either annexing it or just merely controlling it — I think the Chinese are going to take away a very, very bad lesson, which is you can go in and invade neighbors, break them apart, and then keep the parts, because the West will not exercise the vigor and determination necessary,” he emphasized. “So I really worry that we might be opening the door to conflict in East Asia.”

Chang went on to point out that Xi Jinping’s communist regime has supported Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine from the beginning, including a joint statement of a “no limits partnership” in which the CCP has provided military intelligence, vast financial support through the purchasing of Russian oil and doing business with sanctioned Russian institutions, and even providing as many as 200 mercenaries to fight on the Russian front. The purpose of all of this support, Chang argued, is part of a much larger plan.

“There [are] a lot of things going on here,” he contended. “One of them is, as [China’s Foreign Minister] Wang Yi said, he basically wants the U.S. diverted. But we’ve got to remember that Xi Jinping reveres Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic. And Mao talked about chaos, [hoping] that chaos would eventually lead to worldwide Chinese rule. And I believe that Xi Jinping has been sowing chaos around the world. And it’s not just the war in Ukraine, it’s also the insurgencies in North Africa that look like wars, it’s backing Iran’s attack on Israel. China backs the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas. So basically, Beijing wants to disrupt the world because they believe that the destruction of societies are just way stations to Xi Jinping’s direct rule of all of the world.”

Chang continued, “[T]he Chinese not only talk about the whole world should be ruled by China, but they’re now talking about the moon and Mars as sovereign Chinese territory. So we’re talking about the most ambitious aggressor in history. So this is not just about Ukraine. This is about the United States, because the Chinese think of the United States as, at best, a mere colony of China.”

As if to underscore Chang’s contention, a new report from the Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute is warning that the CCP is actively working to undermine President Trump’s plan to develop a Golden Dome missile defense system for the U.S. homeland. The project, which calls for the development of a four-layer system that could include drones, space-based weapons, and land and aircraft-based missiles, has a target date of 2029 for deployment. China has heavily criticized the plan, saying that it will set off a new arms race in space and is part of a “Cold War mentality.” CCP propaganda outlets have also promoted U.S. and foreign critics of the Golden Dome. But a Defense Intelligence Agency report has noted that much of the rationale for the system is to counter China’s massive arsenal of ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, which the communist regime is currently expanding to include “an extensive system of strategic missile defenses involving missile interceptors, lasers and cyber weapons” as well as space-based weapons.

Still, Chang further pointed out that it is far from certain that the CCP will be able to continually expand its military capabilities and global influence in light of serious economic uncertainties.

“[W]e’re seeing some very distressing signs from the Chinese economy,” he explained. “Price data … shows that China is in a deflationary spiral already and has been for quite some time, and a deflationary spiral is extremely difficult to get out of. … [China also recently] saw a precipitous drop in bank lending. The reason why this is important is because it tells us that Chinese enterprises don’t want to borrow … because they don’t see a future. … Chinese banks [are] all controlled by the Chinese central government and ultimately the Communist Party, and yet the party in this dictatorial one-party state can’t force them to do what the party wants, which is a real indication that the Chinese economy has slipped beyond the control of the Chinese leadership.”

In addition, Chang postulated that Xi Jinping’s government may not be as stable as what is outwardly projected.

“We’re also seeing hints of real instability at the top of the Chinese regime,” he observed. “There’s a lot of disagreement among people who closely follow this, but I think that Xi Jinping has lost a lot of influence and maybe even control over the Chinese military, and he’s lost some influence over China’s civilian leadership. … [W]e are seeing signs that are not compatible with a stable regime. I’m looking for what’s going on inside Beijing, and it’s very difficult to do that because the regime is opaque. But if you don’t have a stable regime, then all bets are off.”