Congressman

Well, first of all, thank you for having me, Steve.

And as you point out, I chair the select committee on our strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party.

And this is a focus on our relationship with China.

It covers our national security, our economic relationship, human rights abuses, the entire framework of this relationship.

You know, China has a history of 4,000 years.

But the Chinese Communist Party is a threat around the world and even on our shores.

And so we need to make sure that we are prepared with our national defense.

Also, we are in a strong economic competition.

I commend President Trump for his leadership in this area.

But we have a lot at stake.

And that's why our focus is entirely on this relationship with the Chinese.

Well, as you point out, you know, this relationship has evolved.

At first, you know, they portrayed themselves as sort of this benign developing nation.

And we bought into that.

And quite frankly, our private sector viewed it as a huge expanding market.

and the opportunity to lower production costs and sell products.

And as we've seen under Xi Jinping, the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party has become more aggressive and threatening their neighbors as well as our interests around the world.

And so I think it was a hope that they would become, as they became wealthier, they'd become more democratic, more freedom-loving.

It's actually been just the opposite.

And so our policies need to change as a result of that and reflect the reality of this relationship.