Condemning the Chinese Communist Party's Use of A High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon Over United States Territory As A Brazen Violation of United States Sovereignty

Floor Speech

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Mrs. KIM of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman McCaul for yielding and for his leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territory as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty and international norms.

The balloon has been shot down, and I thank those who bravely completed the mission.

However, many questions remain, and intelligence reports show what we all knew: This was neither a coincidence nor something to be taken lightly.

This surveillance balloon was part of a larger program by the CCP that has collected information on military assets in Indo-Pacific countries like Taiwan, Japan, India, and the Philippines.

We all know that this balloon does not even scratch the surface of the CCP's surveillance capabilities. Millions of Americans are spied upon every single day through TikTok and other state-affiliated applications and technologies.

Whether in airspace or cyberspace, we cannot allow the CCP to spy on us. We cannot allow the CCP to threaten our way of life and the American Dream.

The time to project strength is now. We must defend our airspace, send a strong signal to the CCP that this behavior will not be tolerated, and equip our allies with the tools they need to deter and defend against CCP's aggression.

As the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee chair, I am committed to getting answers from the Biden administration about when they knew the CCP's balloon was entering the U.S. airspace and what they know about the CCP balloon program.

We need to ensure the United States responds to this type of aggression with strong, decisive action from our leaders.

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