The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) held its National Security Symposium March 23, during which a panel determined that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a threat to both its own people and to the U.S.
Steve Yates, chairman of AFPI's China Policy Initiative, served as moderator of the panel; participants included Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) and commentator Gordon Chang.
"We are pretty well in consensus on the diagnosis," Yates said during the panel. "The Communist Party of China is evil. It is the enemy of the Chinese people as well as the American way of life. They have had an active work plan to get Americans to increasingly sow division to capture elite opinion and try to influence our institutions."
Yates stated the "destruction" of Hong Kong is "one of the great travesties of recent times."
He called Hong Kong "formerly one of the freest markets in the world, a wonderful place to live, work and visit."
"The Communist Party of China found a way to get Hong Kongers to undermine their institutions and Hong Kongers themselves to imprison people who deigned to protest and advocate what we would see as First Amendment rights," Yates said to the panel.
The participants also talked about China's role in the global Covid-19 pandemic and in the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S.
Green, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said China's refusal to address the flow of fentanyl precursors into the U.S. is part of its larger strategy to destabilize the country.
"The most surveilled society on the planet can't tell us where the fentanyl precursors are being manufactured to bring to the United States? That's laughable," Green said during the discussion, adding that fentanyl has taken both a human toll and a financial toll on the U.S. He called for the southern border to be closed and for the U.S. to confront China's "puppets," the cartels in Mexico that bring the fentanyl into the country. Green also called for sanctions against the CCP.
Bryant commended South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) for supporting legislation that would prohibit the CCP from purchasing land in her state, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for addressing the same issue.
"China doesn't have enough land to feed its own people, so what do they come and do? They come and buy the American farmer," Bryant said to the panel, "not the individual American farmer, but in their mind, that's what they want to do," stating this issue hurts the American middle class the most.
Bryan also addressed the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, saying that "anybody who's ever gone on TikTok is in a database in Beijing," and applauded Congress for taking action.
"We came together to define and debate the America First approach to national security, discussing how we can best protect our homeland, our values, & our people. Honored that many Members of Congress & leading experts joined us at the inaugural AFPI National Security Symposium," AFPI posted on Twitter.
