Friday on Huntsville radio’s WVNN, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) laid out how he viewed China’s current ambitions as it seeks to fulfill Mao Zedong 100-year plan with its Belt and Road Initiative.

According to the Alabama Republican, China used former President Richard Nixon’s visit to set itself up to build its wealth. However, not addressing the Asian power’s ambition would be “one of the greatest foreign policy failures in history.”

“China has been on this pathway since 1949,” Palmer said on “The Jeff Poor Show.” “Mao placed his 100-year plan. Most people know it as Belt and Road Initiative. That’s the reason China made overtures to President Nixon and opened up a dialogue. And to basically summarize what’s happened since then is we’ve made China an extremely wealthy nation. We have sold them, given them or let them steal technology. And their plan is to be the dominant economic power by 2049, and Xi Jinping believes he is the anointed one to fulfill this vision.”

“If we don’t address this, this will go down as one of the greatest foreign policy failures in history,” he added.

Palmer explained that under President Donald Trump, momentum had shifted back in the United States’ favor in the eyes of the world. He added the cost to the country to address the emerging threat is preferable than the “long-term consequences.”

“The rest of the world, I think, is probably aware of this,” Palmer said. “A couple of years ago, I went to Australia. We go on these congressional trips, meet with foreign leaders. We get a briefing book that I went through, and during the last administration, 40% of the people in Australia saw the United States as a declining power and China as the emerging power that basically would replace us on the world stage. There was even an effort within the Australian parliament to official pivot from the U.S. to China. All of that has changed.”

“When we’re talking to various industry representatives, whatever business sector it is in – whether it is agribusiness, manufacturing, whatever – I understand the problems that are created with the tariffs and these trade issues. But the short-term pain is far, far more preferable than the long-term consequences of not standing up to China right now. And the whole world is watching us. We cannot fail in this effort.”

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