(NewsNation) — All the Republican presidential candidates agree on one thing: China represents the biggest threat to the United States.

That distrust is shared by Republican voters, more than half of whom now consider China an “enemy” rather than a “competitor” or “partner.”

The world’s second-largest economy has long been seen as an industrial rival but now, as the premier communist power, GOP experts say China has replaced the former Soviet Union as America’s chief ideological rival.

“For all intents and purposes, China has become the new Russia,” said Melik Abdul, a Republican strategist and radio host. “China is a bogeyman.”

Presidential candidates used to bring up China to discuss outsourcing American jobs. Now, the concerns are broader, touching everything from the economy to national security, the fentanyl crisis and even social media apps like TikTok.

During the last GOP debate, the word China came up 61 times.

The more hawkish approach toward Beijing directly follows the coronavirus pandemic — a crisis that disrupted supply chains and exposed America’s dependence on China. That event, Republican strategist Boyd Matheson said, has informed much of the GOP’s current strategy.

“More than an America first philosophy, it’s an America independent philosophy — one that says we shouldn’t be reliant on China,” said Matheson, host of “Inside Sources” on KSL NewsRadio.

Matheson thinks China has become particularly important for Republicans because the country opposes many of the core values that GOP voters care about: Freedom, religious liberty and limited government.

Here’s what the White House hopefuls say they plan to do about China.

Combatting China economically

During his time in office, former President Donald Trump imposed several rounds of tariffs on China, escalating a trade war until reaching a deal in 2020.

If elected again, Trump plans to revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status and phase out “all Chinese imports of essential goods.” The Republican frontrunner also said he would establish rules to prevent U.S. companies from investing in China.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has said she will “push American businesses to leave China as completely as possible” and promised to revoke normal trade relations with Beijing “until the flow of fentanyl ends.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is also in favor of ending China’s preferential trade status and wants to ban imports of goods made from stolen intellectual property. He also supports blocking companies from sharing critical technology with China.

Vivek Ramaswamy thinks most American companies should be banned from doing business in China altogether “until the Chinese Communist Party falls” or until it “radically reforms itself.”

Chris Christie has criticized Trump’s trade deal with China and said the country isn’t complying with it. Instead, Christie intends to use tariffs as leverage to renegotiate a better deal with more intellectual property protections.

There are also domestic concerns when it comes to China’s economic and cultural reach.

In November, residents of Green Charter Township, Michigan, voted to oust its entire local government after the town’s board greenlit a plan to bring a Chinese-owned electric vehicle battery plant to the community.

Community members in other small towns have pushed back against similar Chinese-affiliated projects.

Several GOP candidates have promised to crack down on Chinese ownership of U.S. land, which currently accounts for 1% of all foreign-held agricultural land nationwide, although, that acreage has increased in recent years.

Trump has vowed to “stop China from buying up America” and Haley has promised to do “everything in (her) power” to prevent China from buying more land.

Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning some Chinese citizens from purchasing property near military installations and other “critical infrastructure.” He also supports banning the “sale of strategic assets like farmland” to Chinese Communist Party members and their affiliates.

A national security threat

Whether it’s Chinese-produced fentanyl flowing over the southern border, a massive spy balloon floating for days over U.S. airspace, or a potential invasion of Taiwan, the GOP presidential field has been vocal about China as a national security threat.

Haley has called China “the biggest threat we’ve had since Pearl Harbor.”

DeSantis has likened the country to the Soviet Union and warned that it will “export authoritarianism around the world,” harkening back to the Cold War.

Both candidates have called for modernizing the American military, particularly the U.S. Navy, to keep up with China as a growing superpower. In August, a combined Russian and Chinese naval force was detected near the coast of Alaska.

During a NewsNation town hall, Ramaswamy said he would “run a destroyer through the Taiwan strait” and do “whatever is necessary” to deter China from attacking Taiwan until the U.S. achieves “semiconductor indepedence,” at which point he said he would re-evaluate his policy.

In addition to its military threat, Chinese companies produce key ingredients for fentanyl, which have fueled America’s opioid epidemic while strengthening Mexican drug cartels.

Several candidates have said they will use the military to secure the southern border. DeSantis intends to boost “maritime operations” to stop Chinese chemicals from getting to Mexico, while Haley has called for an end to normal trade relations until the fentanyl issue is under control.

An ideological adversary

Much of the GOP’s China skepticism is framed as a deeper ideological divide — one that posits two nations whose core values are fundamentally at odds.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fight against TikTok, a social media app with over 150 million American users that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd.

Last month, the app drew criticism after a letter written by Osama bin Laden resurfaced on the platform, which is popular among American teens. Several widely viewed videos praised bin Laden’s argument for carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks.

Haley blasted the TikTok users on X, citing them as an example of how “foreign enemies poison social media to advance their evil agenda” and called for a TikTok ban to “stop giving the Chinese Communist Party the ability to influence Americans.”

As president, Trump threatened to shut down TikTok if it did not divest from its Chinese parent company but that order was blocked by federal courts.

DeSantis signed a bill earlier this year barring TikTok on government devices and has said he supports banning or forcing a sale of the app if elected.

At the last debate, Christie blasted the app for “polluting the minds of American young people” and said he would ban the app his first week in office.

Ramaswamy said the U.S. needs to go further than TikTok and ban any U.S. company transferring data to the Chinese.

Which China policy is resonating?

Due to her experience as a former UN Ambassador, Matheson thinks Haley has the most to gain on the complex, interconnected issue of China.

“Nikki Haley is probably the most nuanced and I think this plays to her strengths,” said Matheson. “World events suddenly made her unique experience as an ambassador to the UN a distinction.”

But others, like NewsNation political contributor Johanna Maska, say the complexity may favor Trump, as concrete details get lost in political rhetoric.

“The problem for all these candidates is this is a seriously complex issue that Donald Trump has used very simplistic terms to describe,” she said.

Abdul thinks China has become more of a punchline than a substantive policy discussion and said he doesn’t take most of the candidates seriously on the issue.

“If they were serious they would actually be proposing things that disentangle the United States from China, which holds a large part of our actual debt but you never hear conversations about stopping trade relations or anything like that,” he said.