McConnell: U.S. Must Work with Allies to Keep China from Dominating ‘World’s Public Square’

During a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated that “economic integration” hasn’t made China freer, and the U.S. and its allies “will need to stand together to prevent the world’s public square” from being dominated by China.

McConnell said, “Decades ago, the United States and the rest of the world made a calculated bet that welcoming China into the fold would cause them to mend their ways. … China’s leaders have pounced on every inch of economic space in the world — that the world has afforded them, and then some. They have cheated on trade and stolen foreign technology. They’ve executed on long-term plans to dominate key global industries. They’ve weaponized foreign aid to bring developing countries under their thrall. So, the Chinese economy has leapt forward. The Chinese people enjoy greater prosperity, which they sorely needed after decades of Communist mismanagement, but all of this money and innovation have not brought the people any more freedom. They’ve given CCP elites better high-tech tools to oppress their own people and more leverage to undermine the international system. Rather than importing liberty into China, this economic integration seems to have been rather more successful at exporting their authoritarian preferences to the rest of us.”

McConnell later added, “China does not play by the rules. Not in Hong Kong, not in the W.H.O, not in the W.T.O., not in international trade. Year after year, on issue over issue, they’ve chosen the path of aggression. So, there will be consequences.”

He concluded that “defending America’s security, America’s interests, American prosperity, and the international system cannot be a go it alone operation. There will be steps the United States will take on our own. But just as the entire free world stands united today to remember Tiananmen Square, so we will need to stand together to prevent the world’s public square from heading towards similar domination by China. We will need to keep our friends and partners close.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett