Although Democrats and President Trump have spent the majority of Trump’s time in office disagreeing, one area where it seems that they see eye-to-eye is on China.
Earlier in the week, after President Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on China as the two countries continue their discourse on trade, Senator Chuck Schumer (D) endorsed the President’s measure, asking Trump to “hang tough on China.” Schumer also asked him to not “back down” because "strength is the only way to win with China.”
Florida rep. Michael Waltz (R), appearing on Fox Business Network Stuart Varney on Tuesday, discussed the tariffs on China and the threat that China poses on American cybersecurity.
The freshman rep. commented that “this is about the wholesale theft of American technology. The Chinese are stealing their way to the top. They’re forcing companies who want to do business in China to share their I.P. They’re investing wholesale in Silicon Valley and then stealing technology.”
Furthermore, Waltz cited a recent New York Times report documenting that Chinese intelligence agents acquired National Security Agency hacking tools and repurposed them to attack American allies. The agents are responsible for numerous attacks on sensitive defense targets within the country, which includes space, satellite and nuclear propulsion technology makers.
To this, Waltz detailed that it’s not “just about copying some iPhones or stealing some CDs. This is about China… stealing America’s technological edge and trying to usurp us as a global leader.”
Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) has also been leading the charge against the threat that China poses, citing Huawei technologies as a significant threat to the United States.
Regarding Huawei, Rubio has commented that “any nation short sighed enough to allow them to develop its domestic telecommunications infrastructure can be spied on by China at will.”
