During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued the Chinese government was using the COVID-19 pandemic to take an aggressive tack with the nation’s neighbors.
He pointed to India, Hong Kong and nations in Southeast Asia as examples of China’s belligerence.
“The Chinese Communist Party is certainly using the pandemic to try to assert claims and take very aggressive action against almost all of its neighbors,” he said. “Just go around the horn. You started in India, where, high up in the Himalayas, China has essentially invaded India, an ally of ours. And they have killed 20 Indian soldiers. And then, in Hong Kong, they have passed legislation that violates their international commitments, their commitments to the people of Hong Kong, that is essentially going to turn Hong Kong into the same kind of police state mainland China is.”
“And in the South China Sea, they have taken aggressive action against our partners, countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam,” Cotton added. “They have repeatedly invaded the airspace in recent weeks of Taiwan. And just this past week, they have taken aggressive action against Japan in the East China Sea. China is becoming more aggressive than ever. That’s why it’s so important that we support all of our allies and partners, that we make it clear to China we will not tolerate this kind of action, that we want competition to remain peaceable. But the way that happens is to make it clear that we stand with those partners and allies.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor