Gallagher: Our Dependence on China Is ‘the Same’ as Europe with Russia

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) said that America has done the same thing with its dependency on China as Europe did with its dependence on Russia, and “we need to selectively decouple our economy from China before it’s too late.”

Gallagher reacted to CIA Director William Burns saying that China has been a “silent partner” with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine by stating, “Director Burns is right, except it isn’t a silent partnership. Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Xi and Putin signed a 5,000-word statement proclaiming a partnership without limits. So, Putin is merely becoming Xi’s sadistic sidekick in this new cold war that they have launched against the West. And he will only grow more dependent on China the more he experiences setbacks in Ukraine. So, the lesson for us is at least two-fold: One, we need to recognize who we are dealing with, two brutal dictators that want to destroy the West.”

He continued, “And secondly, we need to wean ourselves off of our addiction to cheap Chinese manufacturing. You know, Dana, we’ve been scratching our heads throughout the Ukraine crisis wondering how the Europeans could have gotten themsel[ves] into a position where they’re so dependent on Russia for basic energy resources. Well, we’ve done the same, except with different goods, in terms of our dependency on China. So, if we’re to have a chance of winning this competition, we need to selectively decouple our economy from China before it’s too late.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett