China is One of the Largest Threats in the 21st Century

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and my colleague from Florida for leading this Special Order this evening because I am not quite sure that we talk enough about China here on the floor of the House.

If you look at any time horizon, short-term or long-term, China is the most serious challenge to our Nation's interests. There are other challenges, to be sure, but let's take a look at what China is about.

Geographically, it is similar in size to the United States.

It is economically enormous, with more than $12 trillion GDP, which is second only to ours on an annual basis. And on this point, it is important to remember that they hold $1.1 trillion worth of U.S. debt.

They are militarily mighty. The PLA, People's Liberation Army, is the largest force on Earth, with more than 2 million personnel.

Gigantically populous, with more than 1.4 billion people, it dwarfs the size of our own Nation's 325 million people.

Is it possible that those numbers indicate a stronger China than is actually the case? Perhaps. After all, hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who don't live in the nation's most prosperous cities are still living in poverty and probably will continue to do so for some time to come.

It is also true that China's military today, while large in number, does not have the advanced capabilities of our own military. But these shortcomings are almost certainly temporary, and we should assume that China will continue to close these gaps relative to our own Nation's power.

So what should we do? I want to highlight four areas of concern, vis- a-vis China.

First of all, the South China Sea. Perhaps most, importantly, we need to push back on any Chinese efforts to turn the South China Sea into a Chinese lake. They have been doing this for decades now.

China is rapidly modernizing its naval capabilities and builds man- made artificial islands near the Spratly archipelago.

Well over $5 trillion worth of commerce passes through the South China Sea each year.

We must continue to unequivocally assert U.S. rights to fly, sail, and otherwise operate in these international waters, and we also must make sure that our allies do, as well.

Taiwan, we must continue to reject China's efforts to bully Taiwan into accepting a ``one-China'' policy.

Taiwan has been a great friend to the United States for the past 40 years that the Taiwan Relations Act has been in effect, and it is a key strategic partner.

It is uniquely positioned to buffer China's eastward expansion into the Pacific.

We need to continue to strengthen our critical relationship with Taiwan.

Huawei and other Chinese technology companies jeopardize the security of our Nation's telecommunications network. I strongly support the Trump administration's efforts to prevent Huawei from participating in U.S. 5G modernization efforts, and I hope that Secretary of State Pompeo will be able to convince our Western European allies to do likewise.

Finally, I will talk about trade. This subject is very much in the news today.

I am cautiously optimistic that the Trump administration's carrot- and-stick approach to trade negotiations will bear fruit, even if the tariffs are painful in the short term.

At the very least, I appreciate the fact that we finally have a President who is willing to confront the Chinese about decades' worth of bad behavior.

China has been a notorious currency manipulator ever since it began to modernize its economy in the late seventies. It also shamelessly rips off our Nation's intellectual property. We simply can't engage in mutually prosperous trade with China if that nation refuses to play by the rules.

My last remarks on trade are important because they highlight an important point that I hope does not get lost in this discussion: Our Nation can and should aim for a mutually beneficial relationship with China. In fact, our two nations can continue to grow rich together.

Just because China will be our geopolitical rivals in the coming years and decades does not mean that they will necessarily become our enemies. But having said that, we must not be under any illusions about China's great power ambition, and we must not give an inch when China challenges our own Nation's prosperity or our interests.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage our Members in this body and I encourage the administration to continue to do all we can to push back on China's unfair trade practices and attempt to turn the South China Sea into a lake controlled by China, thereby manipulating trillions of dollars worth of trade.

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