Moulton on Spy Balloon Having U.S. Parts: We Need ‘To Be a Lot More Conscious’ on Export Controls

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) reacted to claims by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) that the Chinese spy balloon had American parts and China using American technology against America by stating that the issue is “kind of old news, because they’ve been stealing our technology for a long time,” and “we’ve got to be a lot more conscious about our export controls and other ways that we prevent China from doing this.”

After playing a clip of McCaul saying that the balloon “had a lot of American parts in it,” host Pamela Brown asked, “So, what more can you tell us about how China is using American technology against the U.S.?”

Moulton responded, “Well, again, this is kind of old news, because they’ve been stealing our technology for a long time, and they steal it to compete against us economically. A business opens a factory in China, and, all of a sudden, there’s a factory next door subsidized by the Chinese government that’s making the same thing and selling it back to the United States. We see the same thing happening with military hardware. What it means is that we’ve got to be a lot more conscious about our export controls and other ways that we prevent China from doing this. It’s a national security concern, it’s an economic security concern. And, look, the response the Chinese have had to this balloon is another example of how they’re acting like a rogue nation, not a world superpower. First, they are defensive, then they’re aggressive. What they need to do is pick up the phone and talk to the United States.”

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