Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Fox News on Friday night that it was time for the United States to start “delinking” its economy from communist China’s economy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Chinese Communist Party has been waging an information war against the United States, they have their ambassadors all around the world telling the countries that host them that this virus originated with American soldiers, not with the city of Wuhan and Hubei province in China,” Cotton said. “They are engaged in online disinformation campaigns as well. That’s why it’s so important we remain clear about why this virus originated – in China – and the fact that China could have kept it [to being] probably a local health challenge in Wuhan and Hubei province as opposed to unleashing a global pandemic on the world.”
Cotton continued, “Let me give you one example of Beijing’s treachery. On January 23rd, they shut down air travel from Wuhan to every other Chinese city – couldn’t go to Beijing, couldn’t go to Shanghai, couldn’t go to Shenzhen, but you could still travel to any city around the world with direct flights from Wuhan to include New York and San Francisco. That meant that thousands of cases were being seeded all around the world before the W.H.O. and China were even acknowledging human to human transmission. China was looking out for its own people by shutting down domestic travel while continuing to let this virus spread all around the world.”
“It’s time to start delinking our two economies,” Cotton concluded. “This happened over 30 years as a result of deliberate policy choices made in Washington. Those were bad choices. We can reverse it through good choices. That has to start with the most urgent. That’s why I have legislation that will bring back pharmaceutical manufacturing and the production of medical devices and supplies in short order, but then it has to continue to other critical fields as well, like 5G telecommunications equipment or other advanced manufacturing and technology products. We simply cannot allow our people to be dependent on the Chinese Communist Party for our health, safety, security, and economic prosperity.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
FOX NEWS HOST BILL HEMMER: The world health organization as you know is under a ton of scrutiny. One of the more vocal critics has been Senator Tom Cotton who penned a piece today on foxnews.com, the Senator is with me tonight. Sir, good evening to you and thank you for your time on this Good Friday for being here. You characterize this as an information war, let’s start there, go ahead and make your case.
SENATOR TOM COTTON (R-AR): The Chinese Communist Party has been waging an information war against the United States, they have their ambassadors all around the world telling the countries that host them that this virus originated with American soldiers, not with the city of Wuhan and Hubei province in China. They are engaged in online disinformation campaigns as well, that’s why it’s so important we remain clear about why this virus originated — in China — and the fact that China could have kept it [to being] probably a local health challenge in Wuhan and Hubei province as opposed to unleashing a global pandemic on the world. Unfortunately the World Health Organization from the very first moment they learned about this virus has been covering up for China, been praising China and more concerned it seems with political correctness than actually stopping this pandemic before it spread around the globe.
HEMMER: I have a number of questions. If you’re right and had Beijing acted sooner, how different would the world be today?
COTTON: Let me give you one example of Beijing’s treachery. On January 23rd, they shut down air travel from Wuhan to every other Chinese city, couldn’t go to Beijing, couldn’t go to Shanghai, couldn’t go to Shenzhen, but you could still travel to any city around the world with direct flights from Wuhan to include New York and San Francisco. That meant that thousands of cases were being seated all around the world before the W.H.O. and China were even acknowledging human to human transmission. China was looking out for its own people by shutting down domestic travel while continuing to let this virus spread all around the world.
HEMMER: The issue now, or soon to be, if the doctor from the University of Washington is right when he said worst is behind us and we put a bigger focus on the economy, you’ve got a catch-22. Our economies are so linked to one another at the moment. What do you do about that? What do you do about supply lines, what action do you think is appropriate?
COTTON: It’s time to start de-linking our two economies. This happened over 30 years as a result of deliberate policy choices made in Washington, those were bad choices. We can reverse it through good choices. That has to start with the most urgent, that’s why I have legislation that will bring back pharmaceutical manufacturing and the production of medical devices and supplies in short order but then it has to continue to other critical fields as well like 5G telecommunications equipment or other advanced manufacturing and technology products. We simply cannot allow our people to be dependent on the Chinese communist party for our health, safety, security and economic prosperity.
HEMMER: There was word from Tokyo that the Japanese are looking at a similar thing in terms of supply lines. The World Health Organization, I don’t know what you expect next week from the president or how much consideration you have given that, what should be looked at there if you’re right and the critics in the World Health Organization are right again on this one?
COTTON: We need a full accounting of what went wrong in January and February, we need a commitment to reform and transparency in the future and we need a change in leadership to ensure those things happen. Without those steps the U.S. Taxpayer doesn’t need to be subsidizing a leader who’s in the pocket of Beijing.
