Last updated on: 3/10/2016 11:52:44 AM PST
Is China an Economic or Military Threat to the United States?
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"[W]e also have to be fully vigilant, China's military is growing very quickly, they're establishing military installations that again threaten countries we have treaties with, like the Philippines because they are building on contested property... They're also trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America. Stealing commercial secrets... from defense contractors, stealing huge amounts of government information, all looking for an advantage."
Source: Amanda Becker, "Hillary Clinton Accuses China of Hacking U.S. Computers," www.reuters.com, July 4, 2015
Pro
"When was the last time you heard China is killing us? They're devaluing their currency to a level that you wouldn't believe. It makes it impossible for our companies to compete, impossible. They're killing us…
I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower. I love China. People say, 'Oh, you don't like China?' No, I love them. But their leaders are much smarter than our leaders...
Now they're going militarily. They're building a military island in the middle of the South China sea. A military island. Now, our country could never do that because we'd have to get environmental clearance, and the environmentalist wouldn't let our country — we would never build in an ocean. They built it in about one year, this massive military port.
They're building up their military to a point that is very scary. You have a problem with ISIS. You have a bigger problem with China."
Source: Wall Street Journal, "Donald Trump Transcript: 'Our Country Needs a Truly Great Leader,'" blogs.wsj.com, June 16, 2015
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Con (No)
Con
"When people understand that the United States spends 52 cents out of the worldwide dollar on military spending and that China spends 9 cents, what arms race are we gonna engage them in? I mean really, is China a threat? No, they're not."
Source: Tim Murphy, "Gary Johnson: I'm Not. Dead. Yet.," motherjones.com, Aug. 1, 2011
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Not Clearly Pro or Con
"We should deal with China like a member of global community--stop isolating and intimidating China--that is not gonna work…
On US debt, they finance all sorts of 3rd-world countries in a way that is far less heavy-handed than the US--we need to compete with China on that. We do need to stand up on human rights--but we need to do that inside the US or it does not pass the laugh test. Like in our jails and in our schools and in our courts and the way that we treat immigrants--we have created them and then we criminalize them. We need to get our own house in order first--stand up for human rights in China, yes, but also in Israel and Saudi Arabia too."
Source: On The Issues, "Jill Stein on Foreign Policy," ontheissues.org, July 6, 2015
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FORMER CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear below in black and white and in alphabetical order.)
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"Russia is not the only country that has taken advantage of our preoccupation with the Middle East. Recently, China has been expanding its maritime boundary in the South China Sea. It also seeks to test our resolve to long-held security commitments we have with our partners in Asia. We must do more to let our Asian allies know that we will stand with them and confront China's territorial ambitions. China continues to threaten our country with cyber-attacks and is a repressive global power. We need to do more to support those people in China who long for democratic reform."
Source: Ben Carson, "Rudderless U.S. Foreign Policy," www.townhall.com, July 30, 2014
Pro
"China is waging cyber warfare against America."
Source: CBS News, "Transcript of the 2015 GOP Debate (9pm)," cbsnews.com, Aug. 7, 2015
Pro
"There's no question that China is a rising adversary. There is no question they have cheated on trade agreements. There's no question they have engaged in cyber espionage and cyberattacks for a long time."
Source: "Carly Fiorina: Now Is the Time to Put Pressure on China in All Kinds of Ways," foxbusiness.com, Sep. 4, 2015
Pro
"Well, China is cheating. They manipulate their currency to create a discount for products and we don't do a damn thing about it.
They're building islands in resource-rich territory owned by others because they can.
They cyber attack us and steal our property and no one pushes back.
If I'm president we're going to push back against China…
Here's my foreign policy — a clenched fist and an open hand. You choose."
Source: The Week, "Sen. Lindsey Graham Says His Foreign Policy Is 'a Clenched Fist and an Open Hand,'" theweek.com, Aug. 3, 2015
Pro
"The way you deal with a bully on the playground is to punch them in the face and put them on the ground because the only thing they respect is power.
The Chinese attacked our government and hacked into the lives of 4 million Americans. The response and retaliation to this behavior is simple - America should hack the Chinese government. We should hack the cell phones of some prominent Communist party leaders, hack the bank accounts of intelligence officials, publicly humiliate Chinese families for political corruption, or wipe-out a few critical Chinese computer systems.
When you tolerate bad behavior and bullying, you get more of it. China's attack against four million Americans is the the [sic] largest theft of government data in our nation's history. As President, I will stand up to China, retaliate with strength, and never apologize for protecting Americans."
Source: Huckabee 2016, "Time to Hack China Back," www.mikehuckabee.com (accessed Sep. 23, 2015)
Pro
"[T]he negative effects of China's economic meddling are severe. The Chinese government's efforts to devalue its currency and rig global trade are a rising threat to our economic interests.
China is also a growing danger to our national security. Earlier this year, it was behind the largest cyber-attack ever carried out against the United States. Its current ruler, Xi Jinping, is trying to convince his country's 1.3 billion people that the way to reestablish Chinese greatness is to undermine the United States and enhance China's influence at our expense…
Under Xi Jinping's rule, China has intensified its campaign to push America out of Asia, denouncing our long-standing alliances with other democracies like Japan and the Philippines, developing weapons that threaten our bases and naval assets, and declaring that Asian affairs should be left to 'the people of Asia.'"
Source: Marco Rubio, "Marco Rubio: China Presents Challenges & Opportunities," marcorubio.com (accessed Sep. 30, 2015)
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Not Clearly Pro or Con
"[W]e need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that."
Source: The Washington Post, "Wednesday's GOP Debate Transcript, Annotated," washingtonpost.com, Sep. 16, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"That [China's building of artificial islands] is an issue that we can handle militarily by going out there and making sure that we show them that we don’t respect their claims to these artificial islands in the South China Sea that they’re building that they’re saying are theirs that are hundreds and hundreds of miles from the coast of China and are clearly in international waters... We need to send that signal to the Chinese very clearly that we do not acknowledge nor will we respect their claims to those areas."
Source: Heather Digby Parton, "The Chris Christie Doctrine on Foreign Policy: What Would Tony Soprano Do?," salon.com, June 10, 2015"
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"I think, you know, sort of the honeymoon [with China] is kind of over. What I think is that, you know, they don't listen much to what you say, they listen to what you do. We can continue to maintain a decent relationship, but they don't own the South China Sea. And we ought to send some forces in there to make it clear that they don't own it. That doesn't mean we have to become an enemy, but it does mean that we mean what we say and we say what we mean. And send the message to the Chinese."
Source: NBC News' "Meet the Press,' "Transcript: Gov. John Kasich on 'Meet the Press,'" www.cincinnati.com, July 26, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"The first and foremost responsibility of the President of the United States is to protect the American people.
Today, this means transforming our military’s force structure to focus on 21st-century challenges...
It means re-thinking how we deal with nations like Russia and China—which are neither trusted allies nor total adversaries.
It means forging a New Alliance for Progress right here in our own American hemisphere, which we have under-valued and neglected for far too long.
And it means forming regional partnerships to address emerging threats—in places like the South China Sea, the Arctic, and the sea lanes of the Middle East."
Source: "Foreign Policy," martinomalley.com, June 25, 2015
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"In East Asia, Beijing extols the remarkable rise of China as the supremacy of a one-party state capitalism…
Trade is a critical element of building a productive relationship with other nations, including China.
While our relations with China are complicated, trade has drawn us together and mutual investment can also play a constructive role. In an era in which geopolitics could drive us apart, we need to look for new areas for US-Chinese cooperation."
Source: Rand PAC, "Senator Paul Gives Foreign Policy Address at Center for the National Interest," randpac.com, Oct. 24, 2014
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Are Americans concerned about that... when they walk in a department store and product after product after product that is not made in the United States but is made in China, are they concerned about it? Yeah, they are. So am I, as a matter of fact. Does that mean that we have to make China into an enemy? Absolutely not. What we need is a trade policy in this country, among other things, that works for the American worker rather than the CEOs of large corporations. I voted against [permanent normal trade relations] with China, that was the right vote, and if elected president I will radically transform trade policies."
Source: Ezra Klein, "Bernie Sanders: The Vox Conversation," vox.com, July 28, 2015
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