During an interview with Fox News released on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) stated that Congress should hear from the CEOs of Apple and the NBA and Hollywood executives about how China uses its economic might “to coerce American citizens and craft certain narratives” and warned that China’s actions in Xinjiang are “merely testing and perfecting the type of Orwellian techno-totalitarian state-controlled enterprise that they wish to export, not only throughout the rest of China, but the rest of the world.”
Gallagher said, “[I]t’s not just about Chinese companies and state champions like Huawei and ZTE dominating the global telecommunications market and making a bunch of money for Chinese citizens and the Chinese government. It’s about total control. It’s about total ideological control. And a world in which Huawei and ZTE dominate global telecommunications is a world in which Xi Jinping and his Communist cadres are able to tell everybody what they can and cannot think. And the fact is, in Xinjiang, they’re merely testing and perfecting the type of Orwellian techno-totalitarian state-controlled enterprise that they wish to export, not only throughout the rest of China, but the rest of the world.”
He also stated, “I would be open to — I’ve thought about this in the Hollywood and the NBA context, maybe it would be a good idea for us to invite Bob Iger at Disney and Adam Silver at the NBA, to the hill for a closed-door discussion without the cameras, to just say, okay, what do you guys — we get that you’re trying to make money here, but what types of pressure have you felt from China? … But ultimately, if they’re not willing to have that conversation, I think we have to subpoena the CEOs of Apple and Hollywood executives and the NBA just to get a better understanding for the American people about how China is leveraging its economic power to coerce American citizens and craft certain narratives that are really damaging around the world.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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