Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry slammed China's communist leaders Tuesday, predicting they were destined for the "ash heap of history" and not running a "country of virtues."

Perry, speaking at a debate in Washington among Republican presidential candidates on national security, named China as a major threat to US security and hit out at the country's one-child population control policy.

"I happen to think communist China is destined for the ash heap of history because they are not a country of virtues," Perry said.

The Texas governor -- who is trailing in the polls after a strong campaign launch -- claimed there were "35,000 forced abortions a day in that country," and accused the powerful People's Liberation Army of engaging in cyberattacks.

Rival Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said he agreed that China was a major concern. Last month, Romney accused Beijing of cheating the United States by abusing free trade rules.

"China seeks advantage through systematic exploitation of other economies," Romney wrote in a commentary in The Washington Post, headlined: "How I'd deal with China's cheating."

Romney has also accused Beijing of manipulating the value of its currency, the yuan -- a policy which he said was hurting the US work force by making Chinese goods cheaper.

Jon Huntsman, the former US ambassador to China who is also vying to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012 elections, said the United States should keep an eye on China, but that domestic economic woes were more pressing.