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Hawley Calls for Stronger US-Asian Partnerships to Counter 'Martial, Expansionist China'

Mark Granitz
/
Flickr via Creative Commons

 

In a broad foreign policy speech Tuesday at a Washington, D.C-based think tank, US Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri called for the US to reshape its strategy in the Indo-Pacific region to counter what he called "a martial, expansionist China." He described China's drive for regional hegemony as a "clear and present danger" and the greatest threat to American national security in decades.

The timing is particularly acute, he said, as China tries to exert more power over Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Hawley came out swinging against what he called China’s “aggression,” and called for the US to build stronger partnerships to counter China both economically and militarily.  Some of those partnerships should be with India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea, he said.

 

You can watch Hawley's foreign policy speech below:

The Republican senator also urged leaders in the US and allied countries to speak out boldly against China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Hawley delivered his remarks at the Center for a New American Security, or CNAS, a bipartisan think tank that studies national security and defense.

 

 

“So if China is able to seize Taiwan…and we’re not there to hinder it or to halt it – we and our allies – then it will be a fait accompli. That’s the scenario, I think that has got to be at the top of our planning to prevent. And we need to make it clear that we’re able to prevent it,” Hawley said in a moderated discussion after the speech. 

 

At the event, Hawley was asked about his thoughts on how US foreign policy should address Russia.

He called Russia a “dangerous threat” that seeks hegemony in the Baltic region, and called upon NATO allies, particularly Germany, to do more to counter Russia.   If the US were forced to choose between countering Russian or Chinese aggression, he said, then he feels China would be the greater threat.