Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday accused the Biden administration of “rolling over” to Communist China in a wide-ranging speech that tackled the Chinese threat, and also took aim at U.S. corporations who he said “openly aid and abet” the regime.
The speech, the 2021 B.C. Lee Lecture at The Heritage Foundation, is one of a trilogy of speeches Pence has given on the issue of China, having given significant speeches in 2018 and 2019. Pence stated that the Trump administration had “changed the national consensus on China” by building up military spending, standing up to trade abuses and imposing tariffs on China, while also speaking out against human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Pence alleged that the debate was now settled and that “Americans of every political persuasion recognize that the Chinese regime harbors adversarial intentions toward the United States and our allies.” However, despite a national consensus on the China threat, Pence accused the Biden administration of “already rolling over for Communist China.” Pence also lambasted the Biden administration in the wake of China’s recent claim to have repelled the U.S. Navy while American ships were engaged in lawful maritime operation.
This weakness in America’s Navy has been highlighted as of late — a recent report indicated “numerous cultural and structural issues” in the force, including “insufficient focus on warfighting skills” and “over-sensitivity … to modern media culture.” In keeping with the general tone of the Trump administration, Pence called for the increased “readiness” of American armed forces: “The Western Hemisphere is off-limits to Chinese neocolonialism.”
Pence also pushed Biden to stand up to the CCP on the information front, including the unclear origins of COVID-19. He referenced growing evidence of the lab leak theory, slamming the CCP’s “recklessness, incompetence, and corruption.” Pence asserted that America’s funding of Chinese gain-of-function research left America “complicit” in the rise of Chinese influence, compromising American independence both in medical research and drug production.