Sasse: China’s Xi ‘Using Russia as a Scout Team Offense for His Plans to Seize Taiwan’

Friday, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) told CNN’s Jim Sciutto he believed Chinese dictator Xi Jinping “green-lit” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Nebraska U.S. Senator, Xi was using Russia as a “scout team offense” in his plans to take Taiwan.

“So, that’s the 2030 geopolitical existential question and, frankly, that’s one of the reasons we can’t ignore Ukraine,” Sasse said. “A lot of Nebraskans who might have more isolationist tendencies say to me, hey, you’ve been telling us for a long time the number one geopolitical threat we face is the CCP. The number two threat we face is the CCP. Number three threat we face is an expansionistic Communist Chinese Party. Therefore, shouldn’t we just ignore Putin is doing? The answer is definitely not, because Xi green-lit this invasion.”

“Russia, as you know, has 11 time zones, and they were able to move their military from the far east to Belarus so they could invade from the north because Xi wants to see the U.S. humiliated, he wants to see Europe destabilized, he wants to push and prod at what a cyber hybrid war looks like and see whether or not the U.S. and the west have will, because he’s using Russia as a scout team offense for his plans to seize Taiwan,” he continued.

“We need to demonstrate not only to Putin, but we need to demonstrate to Xi that there’s stuff we believe in and that right now, that means putting our money where our mouth is and having President Biden send up an emergency defense supplemental so that we can adequately arm the Ukrainians,” Sasse added.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor