Haley to China: Relations Would Improve if ‘Chinese Communists Stopped Sending Fentanyl Across Our Border’

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s hardline China policy plan, which includes aspirations to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations until fentanyl stops pouring into the United States, has caught communist China’s attention. 

“Pushing American companies to leave China runs counter to economic laws, and will ultimately harm everyone’s interests,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, said in a statement to Reuters.

“Only those who draw attention by smearing and blame-shifting in the election campaign will end up on the ash heap of history,” he added, seemingly mimicking another one of Haley’s comments from Tuesday when she said, “If we rally now, the Chinese Communist Party will eventually end up on the ash heap of history.”

Haley fired back Wednesday, telling Reuters that relations between China and the United States would be much better “[i]f the Chinese Communists stopped sending fentanyl across our border, robbing our businesses, spying on us, and militarily threatening our friends.”

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, unveiled her in-depth vision to confront China domestically, economically, and militarily on Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.

At one point, Haley zoned in on fentanyl, which killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 80,000 last year, as Reuters notes. 

“We’ve tried sanctions, but they’re not working. We must ratchet up the pressure. As president, I will push Congress to revoke permanent normal trade relations until the flow of fentanyl ends,” she said, also noting that the precursor chemicals cartels use to synthesize the drug south of the border often originate from China.

“If China wants to start normal trade again, it will stop killing Americans,” she continued, speaking for a half hour.

That aspect of her plan drew the attention of Beijing, or at least the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Another core facet of Haley’s Sino-foreign policy platfrom entails preventing Chinese buyers from continuing to buy up American land. She contended that “[t]he line between Chinese investors and the Chinese Communist Party is exceptionally thin.” 

Additionally, she envisions ending the exportation of “sensitive technology to China,” which is notorious for its intellectual property theft. Moreover, she advocated for blocking American investment in pro-CCP countries, as well as preventing China from purchasing American companies that work with “advanced technologies.”