U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to the media following the weekly Republican Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 19, 2020.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday (Jan. 27) called on the Biden administration to continue its “whole-of-government” national security strategy to push back head-on against the Chinese Communist threat. This is a massive Anti-Communist infiltration policy that has not been implemented by previous U.S. administrations before Trump took office.
Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell urged the new administration to build on Trump’s tough approach to China, comments that were supported by lawmakers from both parties.
McConnell said the Trump Administration “has helped to realize the long overdue reality for Americans that we are in strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China (CCP),” and that “these challenges require swift and serious action by the United States and our friends.
He said the Biden Administration “must continue to work with Congress to continue to build a whole-of-government, whole-of-economy approach to counterbalance the Chinese (Communist Party).
McConnell urged the new Secretary of State Blinken to continue to make the threat from China (CCP) clear to our allies and European partners; to focus on competing for their growing influence in Africa and the Middle East; and to hold Beijing accountable for its unacceptable repression in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, and for its hostility toward Taiwan.
Under the Trump administration, the State Department has launched a series of programs to make allies aware of the threat of the Communist regime and Communist technology, including the “Clean Sweep” initiative. As of Jan. 27, some 60 countries, or more than two-thirds of the world’s economies, and 200 telecommunications companies had joined the coalition. This has prompted many countries to refuse to do business with huawei and other Chinese telecom operators.
In addition, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sanctioned a number of Chinese Communist Party and Hong Kong officials over abuses that occurred in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
McConnell said that in order to defend against Chinese military aggression, new Defense Secretary Austin should “continue to focus on modernizing our forces; deterring the Chinese [Communist Party] threat from the Indo-Pacific to space and cyberspace; maintaining strong defense funding; and investing in defense partnerships around the world. partnerships around the world.”
McConnell also noted that “we need Secretary Yellen (Treasury) to continue to focus on the coercive maneuvers that China (CCP) uses to ensnare developing countries.” That is, the Communist Party’s Belt and Road Initiative, which allows the Communist Party to invest billions of dollars in loans to low-income countries to build infrastructure around the world. The initiative was criticized by the former U.S. administration as “debt-trap diplomacy,” which former Vice President Mike Pence once described as a “point of no return” to bind other countries to treaties and as “debt-trap diplomacy” to expand the CCP’s global influence. The “debt trap diplomacy”.
To date, several countries have been forced to hand over control of large parts of their national infrastructure (e.g., power grids) to a Chinese (Communist) company because of excessive debt levels.
The Senate has confirmed Biden’s picks for Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, all of whom spoke out about the Chinese Communist threat to the U.S. during their confirmation hearings.
Blinken said he agrees that Trump is taking a tougher stance against the CCP, but at the same Time the U.S. must also work more cooperatively with its allies to confront the Chinese regime.
“I think China (CCP) is our most important challenge going forward,” Austin said in response to lawmakers on whether he is prepared to deal with threats such as China (CCP), Russia and Iran, “and I understand that globally Asia has to be our focus, and I particularly see China (CCP) as a growing challenge for the Defense Department.”
Treasury Secretary Yellen, for her part, pledged to use all available tools to combat “the Chinese Communist Party’s abuse of unfair and illegal operations. She called China “our most important strategic competitor” during the hearing.
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