4 hours Ago By Catherine Yang, Eva Fu
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Homeland Security Chair Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said he expects to see a revival of the “China initiative” under the new administration.
“We’re in a conflict with China on multiple levels, and too many people are asleep at the wheel.” The initiative targeted Chinese spies after the United States determined that there was large-scale, widespread theft of American intellectual property by China. The theft coincided with several tariffs the Trump administration imposed on Chinese imports.
Green highlighted cases of Chinese infiltration and espionage targeting critical U.S. infrastructure such as port cranes and power plants.
“Most of us here in DC, our phones have been compromised,” Green said. “Your text messages, who you’ve texted, who you’ve called and when, your geolocation, all that data is now in the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “It’s time to strike back.
” Green said that the United States could also send a message regarding the Chinese communist regime’s human rights abuses—including on American soil via transnational repression—through economic means. “The actions we take, whether it be sanctions, tariffs, convincing businesses to ..
. leave China, all that destabilizes China, right?” Green said. “They’ve got a debt problem.
“If you take economic actions where there are human rights abuses, then you can hopefully change behavior. But if not, you can certainly punish.” “President Trump has nominated very good people who understand the threat from the Chinese Communist Party,” he said, pointing to several Trump appointments of China hawks to key positions.
Moolenaar said Trump’s nominees—Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as secretary of state, Rep.
Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as national security adviser, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.
Y.) as U.N.
ambassador—are all lawmakers who have worked with the committee on China issues. “All have collaborated with us, and I believe, will be strong advocates for a peace through strength policy,” he said..
