Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, this is an important issue. We are going to talk about RIMPAC for a moment. It has direct impact on Taiwan and also the United States of America, our beloved country. RIMPAC, Rim of the Pacific, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise, involving coordination of dozens of countries. The 2024 RIMPAC exercise will showcase the participation of nearly 30 countries, 40 surface ships, 3 submarines, 14 national land forces, over 150 aircraft, and more than 25,000 personnel. RIMPAC promotes a free and open Indo-Pacific, which itself promotes fairly commonsense priorities, including that all nations, big and small, have the right to freedom of the seas and the right to pursue economic growth consistent with international law and the principles of fair competition. This vital naval exercise deepens interoperability and resiliency with our allies and partners. It serves as a bulwark against malign major powers. It pursues deterrence for the sake of peace and stability. Genocidal nations, like the People's Republic of China, have no business going anywhere near the RIMPAC exercises. This amendment would defund enforcement subsection (b) of section 1259 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. That subsection is a waiver that, if utilized, would effectively allow the People's Republic of China to participate alongside the United States Navy in the RIMPAC exercises, no questions asked.…”