Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on U.S.-China summit and Iran war

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to Brennan, President Trump, almost jokingly, referred to grouping as the new G2, which means two global powers.

This prompted Brennan to ask former Secretary Gates if he thinks the U.S. and China are on equal footing, and if that's how he would describe it, to which he said:

"I don't think so yet...the military refers to China as a near peer, and I think, right now, our military power is greater than theirs, although they're catching up and certainly ahead of us in terms of ship building and so on. But that we still have a lead economically, we still have a lead technologically, and, and I think, you know, we have our own problems here at home, but the Chinese have some real problems as well, domestically, in terms of their economy and demography, and so on. So, you know, they're approaching our level of power, but I think they're not there yet."

Brennan said the meeting itself seemed to be the message between the two presidents, and said there wasn't a lot of deliverables coming out of the summit. However, Brennan said there was an announcement of working groups to study AI as well as talk about tariffs.

When asked what he thinks was accomplished during the summit, Gates said:

"I think that the main objective for the administration, for the president, probably was simply to keep a lid on the relationship, to keep a floor under it so it doesn't deteriorate, to continue the trade truce that has existed for about a year now. We're still batting back and forth various measures against each other, but by and large the trade truce has been sustained. And so I think avoiding a re-escalation of the economic conflict between the two. I think putting this floor under the relationship, keeping it on even keel, probably was the primary objective of both sides, frankly."

During the interview, Brennan and Gates talked about the ongoing war with Iran.

Brennan brought up her previous interview with Gates, which took place just weeks away from the U.S.-Israeli strike on three nuclear sites in Iran last year, who said he was concerned that a strike on a nuclear program would just buy time, a year or two, but it would not solve the problem.

This led Brennan to ask Gates if he still believes that, and he said:

"I think the only way that we are likely to get the enriched uranium out of Iran and bring about an end to their nuclear aspirations is through a negotiation. To go after that enriched...that buried 1000 pounds of enriched uranium, some huge and complex military operation. And so I think that the only way you do this and bringing pressure to bear on them to force them into negotiations is certainly the only path that seems to offer any chance of success, but I think ultimately that that the only way you actually end the Iranian nuclear program for good is to negotiate it."

Brennan then said diplomacy and military operations seem to be at a stalemate at this time, with Iran still having control over the Strait of Hormuz, prompting her to ask Gates if it was possible for the president to walk away and leave it for the Israelis to settle, to which he said:

"No, I don't think he can walk away. And no, I don't think the Israelis can settle it. I don't think, as powerful as they are, they don't have the kind of power the United States has, and I think the President seems to have been very consistent and very clear that under no circumstances can Iran ever have a nuclear bomb. Well, the only way you get to that objective is resolving this issue of the enriched uranium and any future plans for enrichment. I mean, I don't think that the nuclear program in Iran poses an imminent threat. After all, we bombed it twice. The nuclear material is pretty deeply buried...you'd have to spin up, use the centrifuges to spin it from 60% enriched to over 90% enriched. The centrifuges are very sensitive, they're also mostly destroyed. Many of their nuclear scientists have been killed, so I don't think...this is not a problem for tomorrow, but it does, you know, the president's got it right in terms of this is a long-term threat that cannot be allowed to develop, and if left alone, they clearly have been trying to move in that direction."

To watch Brennan's full interview with Gates, click here.