Political Quotes

“Madam President, today I introduce the S.T.A.N.D. with Taiwan Act of 2022, which would mandate comprehensive and devastating economic and financial sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party, key sectors of China's economy, and leaders in the Chinese Communist Party, if the Chinese People's Liberation Army initiates a military invasion of the island democracy of Taiwan. Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin introduced an identical bill in the House today as well. I am hopeful that when my colleagues come back from recess, the vast majority of Senators here, Democrats and Republicans, will end up joining me in supporting this important bill. Last March, in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, I posed this question to the INDOPACOM commander, Admiral Davidson: Given the Chinese Communist Party's recent but long list of coercive and even violent actions--a hostile suppression of freedom in Hong Kong, threatening nuclear war with Japan, hand-to-hand combat with Indian soldiers in the Himalayas, economic blockades of Australia, genocide in its own Xinjiang province, [and aggressive naval actions in the South China Sea]--how do such actions impact your analysis [Admiral Davidson] on if and when China would invade Taiwan? His response to me in this hearing made news around the world. He called these recent actions by President Xi ``alarming,'' and then he said: I think the threat [of an invasion of Taiwan] is manifest during this decade, in fact, in the next 6 years.…”