On Wednesday, the second RNC debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. While the candidates have so far discussed many topics, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) spoke with Townhall before the debate to point out that a discussion on the threat that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses has largely been missing.
The location is particularly relevant because Ronald Reagan knew to take seriously the threat China posed. Gallagher, who serves as the chairman of the Select Committee on China, spoke to the hope for candidates to "channel Reagan's optimism and communicate why our values are important to protect and why we're the good guys" and that "we deserve to win this new Cold War."
The Reagan Library could provide a sense of importance of why we should care about the issue. "Perhaps what's most important for a candidate, beyond any particular policy issue, particularly in light of a debate at the Reagan Library, is just to communicate in clear terms to the American people why they should care about the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Why it's not a distant over there threat. It's a right here at home threat and also sort of the nature of the Marxist Leninist regime we're dealing with and why they present a threat to American freedom," Gallagher said.
Gallagher believes China to be not just "the most important foreign policy issue," but pointed out he "could argue it's the most important issue all around." The chairman pointed to concerns not just with Taiwan, but also how many people have died from fentanyl coming from China, as well as COVID, with the CCP covering up the origins.
The next president, as the next commander in chief, will have to deal with the threat of the CCP, especially as it pertains to the need to "to defuse that crisis and deter a war with China over Taiwan," which the chairman says will "take a heck of a lot of creativity and intestinal fortitude."
Gallagher, who has not endorsed a candidate, noted his "primary interest is ensuring that we nominate the strongest possible person to deal with that crisis as well as the various domestic crises like a debt crisis we'll have to deal with." When asked how to best deal with China, Gallagher answered it has in part to do with "a strong commander in chief incredible on the world stage whose threats are taken seriously and who our enemies fear and our allies trust," something lacking under the Biden administration.
He had specific ideas for how the issue of China "that need to be resolved."
Candidates need to be asked about their plans "for rebuilding the military and solving a growing recruitment crisis that threatens the very nature and existence of the all volunteer force," the chairman pointed out.
Gallagher also wants to know how "the candidates feel about putting restrictions on down investments from America into China," especially since there's some Republicans, who as Gallagher put it, "are more sympathetic to the Wall Street's view that there should be no restrictions," while others "think that we need to go farther than the recent Biden executive order." As a result the investigation the select committee did, it was revealed "we're still allowing billions of dollars to flow to China in many cases to the Chinese military companies and we're funding our own destruction in the process."
"I think the issue of TikTok needs to be adjudicated," he also offered, which Gallagher believes "has fallen off the radar screen a little bit," adding "TikTok on its present course can become the most dominant media platform in America. And we should ask whether we want a CCP-controlled platform to be the dominant media platform in America." A ban was discussed in Congress earlier this year, though there hasn't been as much discussion since.
It's not merely that a Republican president would be better equipped to handle China, and Gallagher believes "I do think all the candidates on stage share a consensus view that China is our greatest adversary." There are concerns with the Biden administration as well.
When asked by Townhall if the situation with China "has definitely gotten worse under [Biden's] presidency," Gallagher was clear that he does, pointing out this is "objectively" the case, with how "the balance of hard power has gotten worse in the region." He pointed to shrinking the amount of Navy ships, even as Jinping has said his military will be ready to take Taiwan by 2027, though Gallagher has said he believes that could be sooner. Also, under the Biden administration, the United States is "at risk of not delivering" when it comes to the Aukus agreement, a pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Gallagher worries also about Biden and lack of urgency about a war with Taiwan. Gallagher thinks one of the best ways to deal with China comes down to the commander in chief, but the first area of importance is handling Taiwan.
Having conducted a war game with his select committee, Gallagher warned that such a conflict with China over Taiwan would be "incredibly costly," which he said is "all the more reason why we need to be moving heaven and earth to put in place a deterrent posture that persuades Xi Jinping that he cannot actually successfully take Taiwan."
"Given the fragility of our defense industrial base and our munitions industrial base in particular," based on what was revealed in Ukraine, he believes "we would struggle to sustain a conflict past a week or two weeks."
Gallagher also pointed out how "the president himself has tried to revive engagement and has publicly stated that we shouldn't worry about China, that as China faces economic difficulties they will get less aggressive," warning that when it comes to Taiwan, that has "the practical effect of undermining the urgency that we need to deter a war and taking the wind out of the sails of our efforts to rearm and adopt a realistic policy with respect to China."
But again, it's all part of a larger concern with foreign policy, and the weakness that the Biden administration has shown. Under a Democratic president, Gallagher said "I worry we'll stumble into a conflict for which we are ill prepared."
"The Biden administration is reviving economic and diplomatic engagement with China as the main thrust of their foreign policy," Gallagher offered. "And I think it's doomed to fail if for no other reason than it's been tried for 20 years and it's failed," which will lead to bigger problems as the chairman laid out, explaining that "the more we pull our punches in order to sit down at a table and get a photo op with Chinese leaders, the more aggressive they become, and the more they advance their agenda at the expense of our interests and that of our allies." Gallagher pointed to another foreign policy disaster, adding this was "particularly in light of disasters we've seen in Afghanistan, which sent to signal a weakness around the world."
Biden currently has just a 39.6 percent approval rating on foreign policy, according to RealClearPolitics, while 56.7 percent disapprove.
Concerns also exist with how military readiness could lead to a war over Taiwan. "In light of the ongoing inability of the Biden administration to prioritize lethality in our military and fix our recruiting crisis, I worry that the balance of power will fall further out of our favor and in the CCP's failure and that's a recipe for a war over Taiwan," Gallagher offered. "It's up to us to present a peace through strength alternative in order to deter a war because Ukraine is a violent and expensive reminder of what happens when deterrence fails."
As far as what it will take in the long-term, that once more comes back to Reagan. Gallagher offered his thoughts that "it's going take a conservative revival along the lines that Reagan led, which is not just eight years, but 12 years of strong of sensible, conservative leadership because you also have to tackle the domestic issues that weaken us on the world stage." In addition to "a ton of courage," Gallagher noted that's also going to require "a productive partnership with Congress."
Gallagher pointed out that "this isn't going to happen overnight," but rather is "going to require hard work for over the course of a decade," as he stressed that "this really is the decisive decade, since he believes "we're in a window of maximum danger right now with respect to China, "and so it's all the more reason why we need strong leadership in the White House and Congress."
The debate will air at 9pm EST. The seven qualifying candidates, in alphabetical order, include North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina's Senator Tim Scott.
If China doesn't come up tonight, it might at the third RNC debate, which will take place on November 8.
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