US lawmaker and the Chairman of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition With China, John Moolenaar has highlighted China's interventions and malicious intentions of harming the US and countries located in the South China Sea.
Moolenaar, in a statement given on Wednesday said, "I, along with many Americans, believe that, unbridled economic engagement with China would lead to democracy in China and prosperity at home. And that, as we know, has not come to pass. From militarization of the South China Sea to unabashed economic and coercion, market manipulation to flooding our communities with fentanyl, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown its true colours. The CCP has taken technological tools that we had given them to form new surveillance chains to hold the Chinese people in bondage, they try to extend these chains around the world, including to America itself". While highlighting China's attempted malpractices in the economic field, the US lawmaker stated "They see economics as an extension of politics, one in which they win by eliminating the competition". Moolenaar in his statement, added that China frequently uses joint ventures and capital investments to manipulate, eliminate and steal market-dominating technology to forcefully capture a country's business by flooding the country's market with CCP-backed, cheaper products. In another event, Secretary of the US Air Force Frank Kendall, in a keynote address given at the Air & Space Forces Association convention in Washington, said, "I've been closely watching the evolution of China's military for 15 years. China is not a future threat; China is a threat today," Kendall, in his address to key US Air Force officials, highlighted that in his 15 years of closely observing China's activities, he has noticed that, the Chinese Communist Party continues to heavily invest in capabilities, operational concepts and organisations that are specifically designed to defeat the United States and its allies' ability to project power in the Western Pacific region, including weapons targeting U.S. land and sea assets like air bases and aircraft carriers. Calling it a major threat and concern, the US Air Force official stated he has also witnessed other countries raising alarms concerning China's growing capabilities and intentions in the Indo-Pacific region. Kendall, while highlighting China's repeated attempt to invade Taiwan, said, "I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is not. But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and will continue to do so." (ANI)
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