America is in a struggle for existence against China and Congress is taking it seriously, for a change. If you’re tired of Network TV and want to see some live drama, the latest reality show is being produced by C-Span. The fireworks started Tuesday, February 28 during prime-time when the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party kicked off its first hearing “to discuss the threat posed by the CCP to U.S. national security.”
No tennis match with China
The bipartisan House committee is laser focused on trade competition with China, along with social media surveillance, food security concerns and human rights issues. Republican Chairman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin kicked off his opening remarks by emphasizing that we “may call this a ‘strategic competition,‘ but this is not a polite tennis match.” It’s a national fight to the death.
“This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century.” Not only that, “the most fundamental freedoms are at stake.” If we don’t end up as a radioactive pile of rubble, that is.
Even liberals are grudgingly behind this effort. The Hill calls it “an ambitious attempt by lawmakers to craft the next generation of U.S. policy towards China,” underscoring the fact the committee has fully bipartisan support in Congress.
WATCH: "China is not our enemy."
Protestors hold up signs during the testimony of former President Donald Trump's national security advisor H.R. McMaster, at the first hearing of the new House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party pic.twitter.com/846W8JbZgl
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) March 1, 2023
The panel’s top Democrat, Raja Krishnamoorthi was quick to throw down progressive talking points.
While conservatives are following the national security implications closely, Democrats warn that we must “practice bipartisanship and avoid anti-Chinese or Asian stereotyping at all costs.” He’s totally right, conservatives agree. China is the problem, not individual Chinese or any other Asians.
“These comments only feed the scapegoating and targeting of Chinese Americans, further endangering them and other Asian Americans. Indeed, this xenophobia and stereotyping is what the CCP would want to happen. The CCP is counting on us being divided. We must rise to the occasion and prove them wrong.” That gets a thumbs up from the right. Ratings got a boost about then, as CODEPINK protesters hijacked the stage.
Your sign is upside down
Things started off with an informative video “rolling through actions taken by the CCP.” The committee laid out how they want the probe to “serve as a deep dive into how the U.S. can navigate a deeply interconnected, but perilous, relationship with China.”
That’s when the drama they didn’t have in the script popped up, along with two CODEPINK protesters with signs. One read, “China is not our enemy,” before “being forcibly removed by security.”
The other held a sign declaring “Stop Asian Hate” while yelling “accusations” that the committee was “saber-rattling.” That got a laugh from Chairman Gallagher, informing the protester, “your sign is upside down.” Once things got back under committee control, they brought out the expert witnesses. Even before he had a chance to deliver his opening remarks, Scott Paul, President for Alliance for American Manufacturing noted that dissent like they just dealt with “would not be tolerated in Beijing.” He’s right.
On Tuesday night, the new House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party threat held its first hearing. An indication of the panel’s promise came from an unlikely source: The PRC “demand[ed]” that it “stop denigrating the Communist Party of China.”https://t.co/nUDeVhGcM0
— Frank Gaffney (@frankgaffney) March 1, 2023
“They’d have no such right in China. It wouldn’t be broadcast, their voices would be silenced perhaps permanently.” Boeing whistleblower Charles Shi came home from shopping one day and the police had tastefully rearranged his furniture while he was gone. Just to send a little reminder that they know where in Shanghai he lives. For now.
Other experts called by the panel were former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, who testified that “the success that the Chinese Communist Party once enjoyed presenting itself as constructive, cooperative, responsible, normal, was one of the great magic tricks of the modern era.”
Chinese human rights advocate Tong Yi educated Congress about “her imprisonment in a Chinese labor camp related to her work alongside pro-democracy activists.” She told all about how she “was handed a two-and-a-half-years sentence for disturbing social order and sent to a forced labor camp.” That’s why Mr. Shi has several journalists keeping tabs on his well being.
