While the verbal spar between Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy may have been the most viral moment of Wednesday’s GOP debate, a strong undercurrent throughout the night was a focus on the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the U.S.
On issues like the CCP purchases of American farmland and lands near military bases and CCP influence in American classrooms through programs like Confucius Institutes, the candidates’ statements echoed the growing bipartisan support for a new doctrine for US-China relations based on reciprocity. Under a Reciprocity Doctrine, China would not gain any privileges in the U.S. that it does not extend to America.
Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) recently introduced a bill called the True Reciprocity Act, which calls for a strategy to address the lack of reciprocity in trade, media, and diplomacy between the U.S. and China. The bill says that the “imbalance in the relationship” has created “avenues of influence” for China and the CCP in the U.S. that the U.S. “does not enjoy” in China.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently called for “reciprocity” in US-China business relations, stating that American companies should be allowed to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies can in the U.S. Ramaswamy followed Schumer in stating in the debate that if he is elected, American businesses wouldn’t expand into the Chinese market until China starts to “play by the same set of rules.”
Ron DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott all brought up the issue of entities linked to the CCP purchasing American land, with DeSantis touting his record of restricting Chinese purchases of farmland and land near military bases and other critical infrastructure earlier this year. Ramaswamy said his “message” to Xi Jinping is “You are done buying land in this country.”
DeSantis again pointed to his record on the issue of CCP influence in American classrooms, stating that he “kicked the Confucius Institutes out of our universities.” Ramaswamy also highlighted the issue of Chinese influence in classrooms.
Haley and DeSantis exchanged some barbs about the presence of Chinese companies in South Carolina and Florida, while Scott raised the issue of China stealing American intellectual property to advance its competition against the U.S.
All of the candidates seemed to agree that China needs to be held accountable for sending fentanyl precursors to Mexico, which cartels then traffic across the US border, causing tens of thousands of American deaths each year.
Although the candidates disagreed on some of the finer points of the best way to tackle all of these issues, their overall consensus on China seemed to align with what Mike Gallagher, chair of the China Select Committee, recently told Federal Newswire: “Fair is fair.” And China has been playing unfairly, at our expense, for too long.
