Exclusive - Rep. Derrick Van Orden: 'Massive Package of Sanctions' Needed Against China to Stop Balloon Incursions

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) said on Monday’s episode of the Breitbart News Daily podcast with host Alex Marlow that the U.S. government must prepare sanctions against China in response to the one-party state’s repeated incursions of U.S. airspace with high-altitude balloons.

Van Orden remarked, “Here’s what I’d like to see from the Biden administration — stop talking, and start doing some more stuff. If we’re not sanctioning China — if we don’t hold them directly accountable for this sort of stuff — then the Biden administration, once again, will prove itself to be truly toothless. Here’s the problem, they get themselves backed into a corner to the point where they have to overreact to things. 

“I would hope that the president’s national security team is discussing with leadership and Congress — as we speak — how we can work collectively as a unified American government to thwart a hostile power,” he added.

 Van Orden stated, “The Biden administration should be speaking directly to Congress, right now, and we should act with a whole-of-government approach. I don’t think that’s happening, because the Biden administration has no idea how to govern.”

The Chinese Communist Party will continue deploying high-altitude balloons into American airspace in the absence of consequences imposed by the U.S. government, Van Orden maintained.

He said, “I think that the Secretary of State needs to call the Chinese ambassador, summon him, and say, ‘Knock this stuff off, now.’ At a minimum, they shot four Sidewinders. Those are $470,000 — let’s call it $500,000 a piece — hand them a bill for two million dollars for the missiles it took to shoot down their stuff.”

“We need to make it crystal clear and start putting on the table a huge package of sanctions,” he continued, “There needs to be a massive package of sanctions and from Canada, too. … It’s time to show absolute iron will here by the government. The Chinese Communist Party, a hostile entity, has invaded our airspace four times in a week enough, knock it off.”

Van Orden said he declined to join a classified briefing organized by the White House due to the Biden administration’s demand that all attendees sign a non-disclosure agreement pertaining to the contents of the meeting.

“They held a classified briefing for the first balloon,” he shared. “It was a sort of a debrief. I intentionally did not go to that brief, the reason being is they had everybody sign a non-disclosure statement. So they couldn’t talk about what was in the brief. I’m not Adam Schiff. I will never knowingly disclose classified information to anybody. … I would never do that. There are things that must be kept secret in order to to thwart our adversaries.”

Van Orden emphasized that the Biden administration had not meaningfully briefed Congress with respect to the capabilities or operations of the balloons. He said, “The Biden administration has failed to reach out writ large — other than that single incident — to Congress.”

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Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.