Michael Waltz: Biden Admin must hold China accountable

Joining me right now to discuss this unprecedented security effort, Florida congressman, Army Lieutenant Colonel, former Green Beret and House Armed Services Committee member, Michael Waltz. Joining the conversation all morning long this morning is Fox Business' Dagan McDowell and The Wall Street Journal senior writer, John Hilzenrath. Great to see everybody this morning. Good morning to you. Michael Waltz, let me kick it off with you, your reaction to all of the events today, the inauguration of Joe Biden. He's expected to do 17 executive orders today on day one, becoming the 46th president of this great country. Your thoughts on how things will change under this new president? Well, thank you, Maria. I think we are on the verge of seeing the swearing in of Obama's third term. This is going to be Obama 2.0. If you look at the officials that Biden has nominated so far, their hearings yesterday, it is literally a slew of officials that held number two or number three spots in the Obama administration that have now been bumped up one. So I've already registered my concerns, particularly as it comes to Cuba and Venezuela, and asking the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to really hold the line towards a reversal of President Trump's policies there in terms of Obama's failed policy of this kind of underlying philosophy of we're just nice to them. They'll be nice back to us and we'll be nice to their own people. We have to hold the line when it comes to China. Just yesterday, rightfully, Secretary Pompeo announced genocide in terms of what China is doing to the Uyghurs and the concentration camps and the forced labor. And we in the Congress have to hold Wall Street and the incoming Biden administration accountable there in terms of the I mean, it is it is jaw-dropping to me to see so many American companies enforcing democracy by no longer giving money to Republicans, but then making money all day long on the backs of slave labor, frankly, in in Xinjiang province. So these are a number of things that I think are going to be issues right off the bat. And Republicans have to hold the line on Trump's legacy. Yeah, no, I think you make a really important point. It's a point that we've made on this program. All of these CEOs and American companies that are gearing up to go, you know, begin business in China with all of the issues that this country needs to recognize. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the Chinese government committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its wide scale repression of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in its northwestern region of Xinjiang. Incoming Biden treasury nominee Janet Yellen even agreed with that assessment during her confirmation hearing yesterday. Listen to what she said. I wonder if you would regard Chairman Xi and his regime as guilty of genocide in Xinjiang at present. I think it's guilty of horrendous human rights abuses. Yes. So the question becomes, Congressman, do you expect the Biden administration to continue President Trump's tough stance on China or will we see a change? We're showing a video right now of those Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They are locked up. They are blindfolded. It's a pretty scary sight. Now, this video is from 2018. We don't have recent video of it, but we know that there are more than a million individuals locked up getting, quote unquote, reeducated in Xinjiang. Yeah. Well, and let's not forget the Chinese embassy recently on Twitter, mind you, bragged about the forced sterilization of the Uyghurs. I mean, that's not genocide. I don't know what is. But to answer your question, I think you'll see that shift continue in terms of a tough stand from a military sense and the shift on military assets. But my concern is that the Chinese aren't looking necessarily to defeat us militarily. It is economically. So it's the four hundred thousand students that are that are throughout our universities and academic institutions. The theft of our IP, the cyber attacks and theft that are ongoing, the mergers and acquisitions where they're buying up key robotics, artificial intelligence and other technologies. Who knows what happened with those purchases with over a billion dollars going to Hunter Biden along those same lines. So it's that soft power, those soft power issues where the Chinese are looking to dominate us. Heck, Maria, their military strategy is focused on the United States going bankrupt before they make their moves militarily. And yet I think the spending under Biden is just going to be off the charts between him and the progressives in both houses of Congress. So that's my real concern. That's what I'm going to be focused on going forward, because I think this is the most existential threat the United States has ever faced in everything. Education, Wall Street, our debt is tied to that global competition with the Chinese Communist Party. Yeah, no, I agree with you, Congressman. We have certainly said that many times on this program. And unfortunately, we'll have to wait and see to whether the administration coming in is going to keep this tough stance. The whole world should be concerned about Chinese Communist Party's plans to become the number one superpower in the world, overtaking America. You're right. And just this year, just this year, Biden said rise of China, no big deal. So I hope he has changed his mind in the wake of covid and seeing how they've devastated not just the United States, but the world with this pandemic. And then they're the only ones growing economically. So champagne is popping in Beijing and we have to put a stop to it. Right. And they've used the coronavirus as an opportunity to invade other countries like India and bully the South China Sea. We know that all of the above, everything you listed is certainly concerns here and we'll keep a spotlight on it. Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Michael Walsh joining us here. Thanks so much, sir. We'll keep checking back.