Scott Walker on Canceling Chinese State Visit: A State Visit ‘Should Be a Prize’

‘We should not reward them with an official state visit — when this year alone, we know they’re involved in cyber attacks’

HEWITT: “Earlier this week, you touched off a huge debate within the GOP about China by calling on the President to cancel President Xi Jingping’s state visit. On this show, Donald Trump disagreed with you. He said keep it but negotiate harder. Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio said downgrade the visit but keep it, and you sent the entire old guard of New York-D.C. China hands into spasms as a National Review piece today suggested. What’s your response?”

WALKER: “Hey, the bottom line, this is what leadership is all about. I was just in Iowa the last two days before being in South Carolina today. I made it clear. You know, you get the kneejerk reaction from some that somehow this is going to affect trade. That’s hogwash. China and the United States are interdependent in terms of trade. That’s why they’re a strategic competitor. They’re neither a foe nor an ally. They’re somewhere in between. But we need to step up. Part of the reason why we’re weak in the world today is because of this flawed policy which has come not just from President Obama, but from Hillary Clinton’s time at State, that we lead from behind. Well, the rest of the world notices this, and not just in the Middle East, but with Russia and Eastern Europe, with now the South China Sea. With all of these issues, we can see that if the rest of the world doesn’t respect us, it makes it that much more difficult for us. What my point is here is that a state visit should be something you hold up as a prize for some of your most trusted allies, for those who are great allies and partners. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have dialogue. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do trade. It doesn’t me we shouldn’t talk to the leaders of China. We shouldn’t just, we should not, though, however, reward them with an official state visit when this year alone, we know they are involved in the cyber attacks not only against the federal government, but cyber attacks that have put the personal information on millions of Americans at risk, when they have continued to do things that affect the intellectual property of our employers, when they continue to do what no one, I think, dreamed it was possible, and that is building islands out of sand in the South China Sea, and when obviously, they continue to have an abysmal record when it comes to human rights not just against human rights activists, but even the persecution of many of the nearly 100 million Christians in a place like China. You do all that, combined with over the last few weeks, their efforts to devalue the currency, and the impact that has on the larger issue of trying to manipulate the economy, we should actually stand up and do something about it. If we can’t do something about it now when they’ve actually attacked, a cyber attack against our own government, when exactly are we going to do something?”

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