During Thursday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) questioned Trump’s Nominee to be the Ambassador to China, David Perdue, about China's malign actions and their trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Chairman. Well, first off, congratulations to both of you. I think you're both going
00:03to do a great job. Congratulations on all the success you've had. And this is a big
00:08opportunity for both of you. So congratulations. Dr. Crowley, we hear about actors. We hear
00:13the CCP attacking fallen gang members of the United States, American citizens. We hear
00:19about Erdogan thugs beating up anti-Erdogan protesters in the United States. So in this
00:26role as Chief of Protocol, what can you do, if anything, about that?
00:30Well, thank you very much for the question and for your longstanding friendship as well,
00:35Senator. Appreciate it. The Office of Chief of Protocol does not oversee policy. It executes
00:43what the President's vision is in terms of diplomatic relationships, diplomatic partnerships.
00:47So that would not be in my portfolio. But if confirmed, I do look forward to following
00:53the direction of the President and the Secretary of State on all policy matters.
01:00Senator Perdue, Jimmy Lai is unjustly on trial and in jail because of the Communist Party
01:04in China. As an ambassador to China, what do you think you can do to put pressure on
01:08the regime to release this hero of democracy and human rights?
01:13Well, I appreciated seeing the picture in your office that day. You know, I lived in
01:19Hong Kong, as you know. And when that was happening, I made a trip to Hong Kong and
01:23actually we met with some of these people there and here. And what we have to do is
01:27stand up for human rights in a way that is a little bit different. You know, China has
01:32now become very aggressive. After Hong Kong, you know, all bets are off relative to what
01:38they are trying to do. And now it's becoming visible on a much larger scale with the United
01:42Nations, the World Health Organization, the WTO and so forth about where they're trying
01:47to bring malign influence to change the order to a degree in their favor. So what I'm going
01:54to do, if confirmed, as ambassador, will echo the message from the administration and from
01:59the Congress about how important this is to us.
02:03So Senator, so the Communist Party sends fentanyl into the United States, killed 78,000 people
02:11last year. They treat the Uyghurs horribly. They, you know, don't follow any trade rules.
02:19They never comply with the WTO. It's a despicable government. They clearly want to destroy our
02:27way of life. And for the people that they have killed, they clearly have destroyed their
02:31way of life and their families. So would you recommend that any American citizen buy any
02:37Chinese products or buy, have any Chinese apps on their phone or do any business with
02:43anything that's related to Communist China?
02:46Well, I think the realization that our support of China over the last 30 years or more, going
02:53back to Reagan, actually, in terms of early investment in developing their economy, giving
02:57them access into most favored nation status when they didn't comply, they didn't qualify.
03:03Also, the violations in the World Trade Organization, we've turned a blind eye to. Those days are
03:08over, I believe. And I think we've got to stand up, not just for our own protection,
03:13but for the protection of these systems that have served us well since Bretton Woods in
03:161944 that established the current world order.
03:19Going back to Senator Daines' recent trip over there, the only topic that I could see,
03:24the major topic that they talked about was fentanyl. It's trips like that that make a
03:28difference, not trying to do trade, but trying to influence changes in their behavior, Senator.
03:33Do you think she's going to change?
03:35Senator, the issue is what is beneficial to their strategy? What do they want? And if
03:40you read what they've been writing over the last 25 years, I don't think he's going to
03:44change. The question is, what is his objective and what is he going to be capable of doing?
03:48Look, they have a problem. They can't feed their own population. 30% of the people, 30%
03:53of the food that is consumed in China is imported. I just said 73% of the oil is imported. They
03:59have a real problem right now with unemployment of people under 25. It's over 16% from what
04:04I read. If you look at the economy, focusing on state-owned enterprise is a real problem.
04:09The realization of U.S. capital now that has been going to China for the last 40 years
04:13and not getting the return that we should have gotten but gave up technology and a lot
04:18of other things that went along with it, that realization is going to really change.
04:21If we stop buying their products, if we stop allowing them access to our market without
04:27complying with SEC rules, which we are, we have a law that our SEC is not enforcing.
04:34But if the American public would show up and say, this is wrong, what would happen to the
04:38Chinese economy and what would they have to do then?
04:41You bring up a great point. If you believe that this is a new kind of war, it's not Cold
04:46War, it's not a kinetic war, it's a different war. And they described it to us in the book
04:50called Unrestricted Warfare back in 1999. And they're executing against that. I wrote
04:55an article about it a year ago. If you look at that, the way forward is for the United
04:59States to become informed about that and to stand up to the challenge. That means that
05:03sometimes we'll have to sacrifice, Senator, because what we've been seduced by are the
05:08cheap prices that we gave into over the last 30 years coming out of China that were in
05:12some cases, in many cases, unfair because they were subsidized by the state.
05:16But if we stop buying their stuff, what will happen?
05:19Well if foreign capital from the U.S. stops going into China, they have a real problem.
05:24If we stop buying their product, what will happen?
05:26If the American public says enough's enough, what will happen to their economy?
05:31It'll collapse.
05:32Right.