Cotton: We Should Arm Taiwan, Break Away from Chinese Economy Like We’re Arming Ukraine, Decoupling from Russia

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) stated that all of the actions we’re doing to defend Ukraine, including sending weapons, “we should be doing now with Taiwan. Everything we’re doing to break away from the Russian economy, to put a distance between our economy and theirs, to get our companies out of Russia, we should be doing in China,” to ensure we’re not in the same position with China that some European countries find themselves with Russia

Cotton said, “It is vital that we decouple strategically from the Chinese economy. And I would just say that what you see today in Ukraine, the appalling tragedy inside of Ukraine, as Russian missiles and artillery shells are hitting innocent women and children, could be a preview of what you might see in Taiwan. And everything that we’re trying to do now on an emergency basis in the last 15 days in Ukraine, like providing them weapons, we should be doing now with Taiwan. Everything we’re doing to break away from the Russian economy, to put a distance between our economy and theirs, to get our companies out of Russia, we should be doing in China, again, right now. We should be doing these in a careful and deliberate fashion, so we are never in the position with China and Taiwan that some countries in Europe found themselves with Russia and Ukraine and that we don’t empower and embolden the Chinese Communists to go for the jugular in Taiwan because they think they have America over the economic barrel.”

Cotton acknowledged that economic decoupling “may take a little bit longer in China than it’s taking in Russia. Because our companies are more deeply entangled in China. That’s why it needs to start now, especially in critical and strategic industries like say, semiconductors or rare earth metals.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett