WATCH: Kaylee McGhee White says now’s the ‘time for moral clarity’ on China
Heather Hamilton
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Washington Examiner’s Kaylee McGhee White said President Joe Biden must “name the threat” that is China today.
While appearing on Fox & Friends First, McGhee White noted that “moral clarity” is urgently needed from the president amid rising concerns over China’s national and international security threat.
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“He calls China a competitor, rather than an adversary and says we don’t seek conflict with China, which is true. We don’t want conflict with China,” McGhee White said. “But the fact is that China’s bringing conflict to us. We just had a spy balloon fly over the country for a week straight, and we now know that they did gather military intelligence on some of our sites, and Biden’s response to that was rather weak.”
“The time for moral clarity is now. We need to name the threat, rally the public behind that threat,” McGhee White added. “Although the Chinese government does not own the U.S. government, it does own a lot of the U.S. economy, and a lot of U.S. companies are very beholden to China. This has to be an all-encompassing approach, and the entire U.S. public is going to need to get on board.”
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McGhee White said that while United States support for Taiwan and its allies against China is necessary, there should also be a call for those countries to increase their defense spending.
“I wish [Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy] would have publicly pressured Taiwan a bit to increase its own defense spending,” McGhee White said of the speaker’s recent meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. “If an invasion of Taiwan is imminent, quite honestly, Taiwan’s defense spending is not where it needs to be in order to survive such an invasion, and we also need to be making clear that although we will step in and support our allies when necessary, we are not the only world superpower. These countries do need to do some lifting of their own.”
As McCarthy met with Ing-wen, eight bipartisan House members led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, traveled to Taiwan for several days of meetings.
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China warned the lawmakers of its “firm opposition” to the trip, advising them to “stop all forms of official interaction with Taiwan” and warning against crossing Beijing’s “red line.”
“We’ve experienced on this delegation intimidation — this is what they do,” McCaul said of China’s bullying efforts while speaking alongside Taiwan Vice President William Lai on Thursday. “And we are not going to be deterred by this intimidation. If Communist China decides to start blocking the Taiwan Straits, that is an act of aggression, and I believe it’s not sustainable or acceptable.”