'The Message From Beijing Was Clear': Moolenaar Lays Out CCP 'Appetite For Economic Leverage'

Forbes Breaking News

During Tuesday's House CCP Committee hearing, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) spoke about China's influence on the manufacturing industry.

Transcript

00:00That committee will come to order and we are going to be having members joining us at different

00:05points in this morning's hearing, but I want to welcome our witnesses, former Prime Minister of

00:12Australia, the Honorable Scott Morrison, and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, the Honorable

00:18Rahm Emanuel. It's great to have you both with us, and Ambassador Emanuel, I want to thank you

00:26for your hospitality when we came and visited Japan, and you served in that role as Ambassador,

00:33and we appreciate all you did to help the committee understand the issues relative to Japan.

00:39It's also very rare for a former head of government to appear before Congress not as a ceremonial

00:46guest, but as a witness, and Mr. Morrison, your presence underscores both the seriousness of

00:52this issue and the strength of the U.S.-Australia alliance.

00:56We're here today to address one of the most urgent threats democracies face in the 21st century,

01:03the People's Republic of China, economic coercion of other countries. China uses market access as

01:10leverage, employing tariffs, regulatory blockades, and diplomatic intimidation to target democratic

01:17nations that speak up for human rights or national sovereignty. These are not isolated acts. They are

01:23part of a coherent strategy. And for too long, we treated China's rise as an economic opportunity

01:30detached from the party's geopolitical ambitions. But today it's clear, as trade between the CCP and the

01:37free world has grown, so has its appetite for economic leverage and control. And Mr. Morrison's

01:45government called for an independent inquiry into COVID origins, Beijing didn't argue. It retaliated with

01:52tariffs on wine and barley, with bans on lobster and coal, with a list of 14 political demands that made

02:00clear what the CCP wanted. Submission. Lithuania opened a Taiwan office. China launched an embargo. South Korea

02:10deployed a U.S. missile defense system. Beijing shut down factories and blocked exports. Norway awarded a

02:19dissident the Nobel Peace Prize. China responded with salmon bans and frozen diplomacy. These weren't policy

02:28disputes. They were sovereignty violations. In each case, the message from Beijing was clear. We will control

02:35your behavior through your economy. Xi Jinping has said himself, China must tighten international

02:43production chains' dependence on China to form a powerful countermeasure and deterrent capability.

02:50That's not economic development. That's a blueprint for coercion. But democracies have a choice. We can allow

02:58fear of retaliation to define our foreign policy, or we can build the tools and coalitions to fight back.

03:05That begins with moral clarity. Our values, free speech, rule of law, national sovereignty,

03:12are not bargaining chips. They are non-negotiable. It also requires a whole-of-society response. We must

03:19leverage statecrafts such as trade tools, export controls, and investment guarantees to support allies

03:27under pressure. We need to re-industrialize our own defense manufacturing base, reshore or friendshore

03:35production of critical inputs, and build international coalitions that reduce dependency because the next

03:41round of coercion won't wait until we're ready. It will come when we're weakest. We also need to remember

03:49that China's coercion is not just about trade. It reaches into our own societies and attacks our core

03:56values, targeting diaspora communities, leveraging propaganda, and exploiting our open systems to

04:04create doubt, sow division, and instill fear. That's not a problem for law enforcement alone. It's a challenge

04:13to democratic cohesion. And finally, we must double down on the efforts that Beijing fears the most,

04:20including AUKUS, the Quad, and deeper Indo-Pacific coordination with our friends.

04:25The CCP wants to isolate the United States from our allies. Our answer must be unity and collective

04:33economic resilience to Beijing's bullying. Economic coercion is not a phase of Chinese foreign

04:41policy. It's the logical and inevitable conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party's worldview. And

04:48ominously, it is a warning of what is to come if we fail to meet the CCP's challenge. It's time for

04:55the free world to stand together. Thank you. And with that, I'd like to recognize our ranking member

05:01Rajya Krishnamoorthi for his opening statement.

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