Andy Biggs: “I thank my friend and my colleague from Florida for leading this Special Order this evening because I am not quite sure…”

“I thank my friend and my colleague from Florida for leading this Special Order this evening because I am not quite sure that we talk enough about China here on the floor of the House. If you look at any time horizon, short-term or long-term, China is the most serious challenge to our Nation's interests. There are other challenges, to be sure, but let's take a look at what China is about. Geographically, it is similar in size to the United States. It is economically enormous, with more than $12 trillion GDP, which is second only to ours on an annual basis. And on this point, it is important to remember that they hold $1.1 trillion worth of U.S. debt. They are militarily mighty. The PLA, People's Liberation Army, is the largest force on Earth, with more than 2 million personnel. Gigantically populous, with more than 1.4 billion people, it dwarfs the size of our own Nation's 325 million people. {time} 1945 Is it possible that those numbers indicate a stronger China than is actually the case? Perhaps. After all, hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who don't live in the nation's most prosperous cities are still living in poverty and probably will continue to do so for some time to come. It is also true that China's military today, while large in number, does not have the advanced capabilities of our own military.…”