On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) pushed back against President Joe Biden’s criticism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned Taiwan visit by stating that “we’re not going to let the Chinese Communist Party dictate where the Speaker of the House should go.” And “we shouldn’t allow them to bluff and dictate to America, the greatest nation in the world, where our Speaker of the House should travel.”
Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “President Biden has said the U.S. military believes a Taiwan visit by the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is, ‘not a good idea right now[.]’ You sit on the Armed Services Committee, should she call off this possible trip to Taiwan?”
Khanna responded, “No, she should not. I respect Speaker Pelosi. I mean, we’re not going to let the Chinese Communist Party dictate where the Speaker of the House should go. Taiwan is an economic partner with us. That doesn’t mean that her going there is somehow not recognizing the One China policy. She should absolutely go, and we need to speak out on human rights issues in China and we need to speak out about the trade deficit in China. So, I fully support her going.”
He added that a military response by China “would be the worst thing they could do. I mean, they’ve seen this president, our country’s resolve in Ukraine, with rallying NATO. They’ve seen the sanctions on Russia. I mean, they would cripple their entire economy. They are so dependent on the United States in terms of the trade that we have. So, we shouldn’t allow them to bluff and dictate to America, the greatest nation in the world, where our Speaker of the House should travel. I mean, who are they to say that Speaker Pelosi shouldn’t go to Taiwan?”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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