Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance, a first-term, second-year U.S. Senator from Ohio, author of Hillbilly Elegy, as his vice-presidential running mate. What are Vance’s views of the threat to the United States posed by the government of China?
From Vance’s Senate.gov site:
Stop the threat to U.S. infrastructure posed by Chinese government hackers.
From a May 10, 2024 letter by Vance, sole signatory, to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency:
“I write to express my concern that U.S. critical infrastructure appears to be under attack from the PRC state-sponsored hacker group known as Volt Typhoon. The impact from a full-scale Volt Typhoon attack on U.S. critical infrastructure would be devastating and could result in our nation being thrown into disarray at the exact time it is under military attack from foreign adversaries. The consequences of a Volt Typhoon attack would presumably include a threat to the U.S. military by disrupting power and water to our military facilities and critical supply chains…. [P]lease provide answers to the following questions by [close of business] on May 24, 2024.”
Stop U.S. reliance on the People’s Republic of China for medical supplies.
From a February 29, 2024 letter to the secretary of Health and Human Services, signed by Vance, U.S. Senator Rick Scott, and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley:
“We write to express our concern about the state of the United States’s supply chains for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical medical supplies. Recent news investigations have revealed that American medical supply chains are as weak today as they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. Without swift action by this administration, our nation could find itself once again dependent on our adversaries for essential goods….
“Today, under your watch, the domestic nitrile glove supply chain is as insecure as ever….
“The Covid-19 pandemic was responsible for some of the gravest injustices and humiliations for the United States in recent memory: from lockdowns and school closures to mask and vaccine mandates. Such policies undermined the public trust in America’s leaders and institutions. Among the most humiliating was the fact that the communist nation responsible for unleashing this plague on the world was also profiting off supplying the tools to fight it. We must end our dependence on foreign supply chains and save ourselves from future humiliation.”
Stop funding the war in Ukraine at the expense of countering China’s threat to Taiwan.
From an April 28, 2024 press release quoting Vance’s comments on Fox News Sunday:
“The argument that I’m making is quite simple. It’s not that we don’t admire the courageousness of the Ukrainians. We certainly do. It’s that America is stretched too thin. We do not have the industrial capacity to support a war in Ukraine, a war in Israel, potentially a war in East Asia if the Chinese invade Taiwan. So America has to pick and choose….
“If we focus on East Asia, if we focus on containing the Chinese, the Europeans can step up in Europe….
“So why are Americans subsidizing European security? We should be focused on our own problems, and that’s mostly China. You have to ask yourself, is China going to be more dissuaded by us thumping our chests and acting tough in Europe, or are they going to be more dissuaded by us having the weapons necessary to prevent them from invading Taiwan?”
Stop ruining U.S. military readiness.
From a March 13, 2024 press release:
“America’s military stockpiles are dangerously low. Joe Biden has spent two years sending more weapons to Ukraine than we’re capable of manufacturing, and it’s putting our national security at risk. We’re woefully unprepared for any type of major conflict. This legislation [the William S. Knudsen Defense Remobilization Act] would recruit industry experts to identify the shortfalls of our military industrial base and outline necessary regulatory reforms to get defense production back on track.”
Stop China from infiltrating U.S. higher education.
From a September 20, 2023 press release:
“Senator Vance’s legislation would require American universities to report gifts of any value from foreign adversaries and would require the Department of Education to share all open and future Section 117 reports with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“ ‘The institutions tasked with educating America’s future leaders have been repeatedly exposed for seeking money from our adversaries, especially the Chinese Communist Party,” said Senator Vance. “We cannot allow the CCP, or any hostile nation for that matter, to continue to infiltrate and exploit our higher education system. The American people deserve to see every single dollar of foreign donations going to U.S. colleges and universities, and that’s exactly what this legislation would do.’ ”
Stop emulating totalitarian assaults on freedom.
From a December 12, 2023 letter by Vance, sole signatory, to the Irish ambassador to the United States:
“I write to express concern about legislation pending in the Oireachtas [the Irish parliament] that could undermine Ireland’s commitment to universally prized freedoms, including the freedom of speech. The proposed legislation, called the ‘Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022,’ is full of vague prohibitions that would chill important public debate if they were to become law, particularly with respect to the most controversial and publicly significant matters….
“The United States routinely condemns similar censorious conduct from China, Myanmar, or Iran. Indeed, earlier this year, the U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on Iranian government officials believed to be involved in censoring peaceful protestors and ‘inhibiting their rights to freedom of expression [and] peaceful assembly.’ I am alarmed that one of our closest friends, a democracy dedicated to upholding cherished freedoms, should undertake such legislation.”
From a December 12, 2023 press release: “In response to an Irish senator speaking on the legislation, Senator Vance wrote on X, ‘Ireland senator wants to criminalize speech that causes too much “discomfort” for people. If this were happening in Russia or China or many other nations we would call it totalitarian and threaten economic sanctions.’ ”
