During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. James Risch (R-ID) spoke about Trump's nominee for Ambassador to China, former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA).
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00:00Mr. President, I come to the floor today in support of our friend David Perdue's nomination
00:06to be ambassador to China.
00:09This is certainly one of the most important nominations and appointments that will come
00:15across this floor, and the President is to be commended for picking David Perdue for
00:21this position.
00:22China, as we all know, is the largest, the most significant, probably the longest-lasting
00:29foreign policy challenge that the United States of America has, and it's going to continue
00:37to be for some time.
00:39Today we've seen, over the last recent decades, China move from a third-world country to a
00:48near-peer to the United States.
00:51Their economy is growing rapidly, and they've done it the old-fashioned way.
00:57They've stole every good idea that we have and used it to their own devices, which has
01:04brought them to the challenging position they are for the United States.
01:08And they are a very different country than the United States is.
01:13The world, I think, is very quickly developing to a bipolar position, where on the one hand,
01:20you have democracies and semi-democracies, like the United States, made up of free people,
01:25of capitalism, of free markets, of entrepreneurs, and of people who very much value human rights,
01:34and value the individual way ahead of the state.
01:39On the other hand, you have countries like China that are communists, they are socialists,
01:44they are not free market or capitalist motivated, and they have no regards for human rights.
01:51The best example of that is the genocide that they commit against the Uyghur Muslims in China,
01:57and the world pretty much looks the other way while they do human rights abuses that are
02:02way over the top.
02:04So, Senator Perdue, David, you have your work cut out for you.
02:09This is going to be a challenge as we go forward, particularly over the next four years.
02:16In addition to that, China has done everything it can to infiltrate the United States.
02:22Most people in America have no understanding about the tremendous amount and millions of dollars
02:28that the Chinese government pumps into our colleges and universities here in the United States.
02:35Now, I, myself, and others have long been trying to put a stop to this.
02:40No foreign government can come into our political system and use money to influence our political
02:46system, and yet a foreign government like China can go into our colleges and universities
02:51and pump in millions of dollars and use their influence, the influence of that money to influence
02:58the colleges and universities.
03:00We don't allow this in our political system because we don't want foreign influence in
03:05our political system, nor should we allow this kind of influence in the institutions that
03:10make up the educational system for future Americans.
03:16We need to put a stop to this, and all of us, I hope, will be glad to partner with all
03:20of our friend David Perdue as he confronts these issues from Beijing.
03:25In this administration and in his first term, President Trump demonstrated that he will be
03:30tough on China.
03:32He has to be.
03:33We need a strong leader like David Perdue at the front of our fight with the Chinese government
03:39to execute on President Trump's vision.
03:41I hope my colleagues will join me today in supporting Mr. Perdue to be ambassador to China.
03:48Thank you, Mr. President.
03:50Thank you, Mr. President.