Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today questioned Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Biden’s nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, over her past comments praising the Chinese Communist Party and downplaying the risk that China poses to the security and safety of the American people. Thomas-Greenfield made those remarks at an event sponsored by the Confucius Institute, a key propaganda platform for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Watch Sen. Cruz’s full line of questioning here. Key excerpts are below.
WATCH: Cruz Calls Out Biden U.N. Nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield for Praising Chinese Communist Party
“I’ve for a long time believed that the single greatest geopolitical threat facing the United States is China. The communist government in China is a profoundly malign influence. I’m also growing increasingly concerned over the last two weeks by a pattern among Biden administration nominees of consistently moving towards and embracing the Chinese Communist Party. That pattern became even worse this morning in an article that broke in the Washington Post, that described a speech you gave just a little over a year ago, in October of 2019, to a Confucius Institute. Confucius Institutes are paid for by the Chinese Communist government. […]
“We have had repeated problems of espionage and propaganda. That’s why the Chinese Communist government funds Confucius Institutes. Congress has passed bipartisan legislation cracking down on Confucius Institutes, legislation I authored, that passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. At the same time, the United States Congress and the United States government is acting to combat the spying, espionage, [and] propaganda coming from Confucius Institutes run and controlled by the Chinese Communist government. According to the Washington Post you were apparently going to a Confucius Institute giving a paid speech and praising China. […]
“You said you’ve spoken out against China's abusive practices. Perhaps you have elsewhere, but I can tell you I’m holding the speech you gave at the Confucius Institute and I can’t find a single word of criticism in this speech.
"This speech is cheerleading for the Chinese Communist Party.
"You praise the Belt and Road Initiative. You praise their entrapping developing countries in debt bondage and you say the United States should follow China’s model.
"Is that the role of America’s UN ambassador? To be cheering on the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of the developing world and at the expense of America?”
These comments are part of a pattern of pro-China advocacy by Team Biden cabinet picks. Sen. Cruz this week questioned Commerce Secretary nominee Governor Gina Raimondo, who refused to commit to keeping Huawei on the Entities List. This list is maintained by the U.S. government and prohibits the export of our technology to companies that pose a risk to our national security. Governor Raimondo only stated she would “review the policy.”
Sen. Cruz has been leading the charge in the Senate to fundamentally reassess the U.S.-China relationship and counter Chinese censorship in the wake of the CCP coronavirus coverup.
Additionally, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Cruz has:
- Led efforts to end U.S. dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals by introducing the Onshoring Rare Earths or ORE Act, legislation that would establish a supply chain in the U.S. for minerals used to manufacture defense technologies and other high-tech products.
- Introduced the Blocking Evasive Attempts to Manipulate Signals or BEAMS Act, legislation to prevent the CCP from exploiting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loopholes to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada, including through stations entangled with Chinese state-owned media outlets such as Phoenix TV. This legislation resulted in the Trump administration blocking the license to these stations.
- Introduced the Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies or SCRIPT Act, legislation cutting off Hollywood studios from assistance they receive from the Department of Defense if those studios censor their films for screening in China.
- Introduced the Sanctioning and Highlighting Authoritarian Medicine and Eugenics or SHAME Act, legislation sanctioning CCP officials for systematic ethnic cleansing, including through forced abortions and other coercive population control measures in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
READ: Sen. Cruz on FoxNews.com: China Is Expanding Its Malign Influence All Over the World
