Ohio lawmaker asked if he would drink water after toxic train derailment Tensions between the US and China are on high this morning after a blunt meeting between the two nation’s top diplomats, the first since the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month and a quote, very direct and candid meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterpart Wang Yi the balloon was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. That must never occur again. The State Department said. A senior official said that Blinken also criticized China for not engaging in military to military dialog over the incident, when Chinese military officials, quote, refused to pick up the phone and underline a concern raised in earlier remarks by the vice president, Lincoln warned China there would be consequences if they provide military aid to Russia. In its war against Ukraine. The informal meeting came hours after China’s top diplomat criticized the US response to the balloon. In a speech to the leaders attending the conference, including a bipartisan group of top U.S. lawmakers.
And joining me now from the Munich Security Conference, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner. Thank you both for coming on
Thank you, panel. So, Congressman McCaul, I want to start with you here. The US-China relationship is a key topic of discussion at the Munich summit, where you are China’s foreign minister addressed the gathering and mocked the U.S. response to the Chinese surveillance balloon, calling it, quote, absurd and hysterical and an effort to, quote, divert attention from its domestic problems. What is your response to him?
Well, you know, I had a conversation with the secretary’s team. I would send a very stark, stern warning to him that we will not tolerate a spy born in this, you know, committing espionage over the United States again. And I know there’s talk of a private meeting, but this is a bit of a shot across the bow at this conference. And I know Blinken spoke as well. This is a time when our relations have never been more The tension is very high right now, I should say. And I think the spy balloon was so embarrassing, going over three major military installations with nuclear warheads. The idea it could capture imagery and send it back to Beijing to another ship cause a lot of damage to our national security. But also political damage in the sense that Americans saw this with the naked eye and it was flying so low to the ground.
And of course, the administration has countered that it prevented the balloon from being able to gather information on sensitive U.S. sites and it learn valuable information from studying it. And they ultimately shot it down. Secretary Blinken’s trip to China was delayed, canceled and China’s actions were condemned. But President Biden this week stressed that the US is not seeking a new Cold War with China and said he plans to speak with President Xi at some point. You just heard there, Congressman Turner from Congressman McCaul, about just how how the tensions are right now between the US and China, how bad the relations are. What should his message be to. And do you think that Biden is right to try to lower the temperature with China in the wake of this incident?
Well, remember, the balloon was an escalation and it was not forwarded from its mission. It flew over our missile defense sites, our nuclear weapons sites, and then it wasn’t taken out of the game until the game was over. In the Atlantic. The reality is, is that the administration admitted that after it had shot down the balloon that it should have been more proactive in the three subsequent shoot downs that it did of what appears to be harmless objects over North America. So the administration does have a shift that it needs to take in taking all of this a lot more serious now, being more forward also with the American public and with China as to what we’re facing and what their espionage plans were. But, you know, here, I do think that there is an opportunity to get back to a normal dialog with China. No one, of course, wants a Cold War, but that isn’t the issue. What we want is a China that is not going to be an aggressor state that’s not going to be building up its military and threatening the United States and certainly not not making the negative comments that it’s making instead of just openly apologizing for sending a spy balloon over our most sensitive military sites.
So as we just heard, you both have been critical of President Biden’s response to China here at home. But politics traditionally stops at the water’s edge. Are you and the Biden administration on the same page and presenting a united message to the world when it comes to countering China, where you are right now in Munich? Congressman McCaul, first to you.
Yeah, I think we have a unique opportunity to be bipartisan on this issue of, you know, national security against one of the greatest threats to to this country in the world for that matter. And I think, you know, the fact that a select committee was voted on by a large majority of Democrats. So when we talk about particularly export controls, this balloon, by the way, had a lot of American parts in it. We know that the hypersonic missile that went around the world with precision was built on the backbone of American technology. So there’s a lot of discussion here at this summit about how can we you know, they steal a lot of this from us, but we don’t have to sell them the very technology they can put in their advanced weapons systems to then turn against either Taiwan and the Pacific or eventually possibly the United States of America. I think there’s great bipartisanship on this issue, by the way, as well as Ukraine. I think our delegation has been very unified in our support for Ukraine and putting everything we can from a weapons perspective in the Ukraine so they can defeat the Russians.
All right. Let’s turn to Ukraine. As you mentioned, Congressman McCaul, it is a big talker there at the summit. I remember last year everyone was talking about Russia getting ready to invade. Now, it’s been nearly a year. And nearly a dozen members in your party have introduced a so-called Ukraine fatigue resolution to end U.S. support for Ukraine. And a new poll is showing support among Americans for arming Ukraine is dropping. How concerned, Congressman McCall are foreign leaders?
You’re speaking to that American support for Ukraine, particularly within your own party, is weakening Well, I know that Bill had about ten co-sponsors out of 435 members of Congress. I would say that support is still very strong. And this delegation is bipartisan, very strong support for Ukraine. I think we’re you’re seeing a split from the administration, though. And I have to say, well, this is bipartisan as well. Is that for the past year, we’ve been very slow in getting these weapons in in the name of being too provocative, whether it be stingers, jab ones, these short range artillery, no longer range artillery attack. And they can take out the Iranian drones in Crimea and also aviation like F-16. If we put this stuff in from the very beginning of this conflict, a year from now may have been very different as we look at the anniversary on February 24th. The longer they drag this out they play into Putin’s hands. He wants this to be a long, protracted war because he knows that potentially he’ll lose. We could lose the will of the American people. And therefore the Congress. And we’re seeing the same dynamic in the European Parliament’s strong support now. But they’re worried that if this doesn’t end with the resolution you know, sooner rather than later, this will be an issue for us.
Yeah, and you mentioned the need for Ukraine to have more weapons to fight Russia, a bipartisan group in Congress, including some members on your own committee, wrote to President Biden urging him to give Ukraine F-16 fighter jets. You said the US should give Ukraine, quote, everything they need to win this thing. Congressman McCaul, do you believe the administration is considering taking that step
You know, I hope so. The attack himself had been on the table for months and they have sent those in. And the same delivery applies to attack. And those are the high MOIS. But, you know, the fact is, the longer they wait, the longer this this conflict will prevail. I honestly, every top military expert I talked to at this conference agreed with what I was saying. And I think, you know, Mike Turner, that we need to throw everything we can into this fight so that they can win. And once he’s going to tell us that soon as well, he had a speech here at the conference saying the same thing. And I think the momentum is building for this to happen.
Congressman Turner, to you, you’re also on the Armed Services Committee. We should note, according to Politico, the top Democrat on that committee, Representative Adam Smith, said at the Munich Security Conference, quote, There’s more of a consensus that there that people realize that Ukraine is not going to militarily retake Crimea. I’m wondering if you agree with that assessment.
