'The Core Of National Power': Marco Rubio Sounds Alarm On China's Strength In 'Key Core Industries'

4 months ago

Prior to the Congressional recess, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) questioned Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell about China's expansion and strength in core industries and the impact that has on power projection.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Rubio. Thank you. Thank you for being here

00:04On this issue of China, one of the things that makes it such a unique competitor and

00:09Adversary in many ways is unlike the Soviet Union. They are not just a military and diplomatic adversary. They are a technological

00:17industrial commercial

00:20Adversaries well, it's the one I want to focus on because I do think it challenges us in our foreign policy apparatus to combine

00:27Commerce and trade and

00:29technological matters with

00:32Geopolitics which are clearly important. They've always been important the technological and industrial high ground has always been a precursor of

00:39Global power. So if you look at what China's achieved in the last 10 years ago, maybe even less

00:44They let a note none of the cutting-edge fields. Yeah today. They dominate the world's electric vehicle markets

00:51And primarily this is a challenge because they're dumping these cars now or threatening to dump these cars

00:56and eviscerate

00:58automakers beyond just electric cars

01:01outside of China

01:03they are

01:05Dominant in energy fields particularly that I think the 80% of the global supply chain for solar

01:11they are

01:12Technologically a leader in nuclear power in ways that have surpassed our own and and unfortunately despite the electric cars and nuclear power leadership

01:19They're also the world's largest polluter

01:22So just think about that

01:23But the two I really want to focus on is that I think it really go to the heart of power

01:28Number one is by far the other world's leading shipbuilder. They're building aircraft carriers. They're building this fleet of LNG ships

01:36They're even building cruise ships

01:37And I and we all understand that shipbuilding is at the core of the ability to project power not just military but commercial and they are

01:45the undisputed king of basic industrial inputs steel and cement and these things that are not glamorous

01:51They don't have Netflix miniseries about steel and cement or shipbuilding, but these these are at the core of national power

01:57They used to be at the core of our national power. We don't win World War two without industrial power

02:01So, how does that fit this whole view of this domination that they're establishing in these key core industries?

02:08Within our broader confines of something that's not simply military or diplomatic

02:12I mean, how are we melding that into our strategy because some of these are going to require

02:17Us to lean heavily into our alliances in essence make sure that our allies in some sort of a consortium fashion are

02:25not just protecting their domestic industries, but

02:28protecting the existence of

02:31non-chinese Communist Party controlled sources of steel cement shipbuilding and the other fields that they seek domination is

02:38Domination and so how does this fit into the broader construct of our?

02:43strategic

02:45Approach to this challenge great senator. I just I I accept and deeply

02:53Support that general worldview that you've just laid out. I would just add one or two things on the first part

02:59you know, there is a huge debate in the kind of

03:04Intellectual foreign policy whether this is another Cold War, right?

03:08But the one thing I worry about sometimes about that debate is

03:13That is that when you say Cold War it conjures up views of the struggle

03:19We had with the Soviet Union, which as you described is really

03:24Monochromatic it was really in a couple of different sectors and in truth

03:28Our economies were not linked at all in any way one of the biggest challenges

03:34for the United States as it constructs a strategy and I'm going to try to answer the second part of your question is

03:40That there are very few countries that are more interdependent than the United States and China and at the same time

03:47There are very few countries that are more uncomfortable with that interdependence

03:51Both the United States and China are both taking steps to ease to remove elements of that

03:59connectivity financially

04:02manufacturing

04:02Lines of communication. So that's one of the one of the biggest challenges

04:07How do you take steps that then don't hurt your own economy?

04:10But the point that you make I could not agree with you more if I look, you know

04:14in government is about just surveying a list of

04:19challenges like how can you figure out what to do about if I would ask the two things that

04:25We really need to get our our act together on

04:30naval shipbuilding

04:32both

04:33surface ships

04:34But submarines as well when I came into the White House

04:38I thought and I believe still do that our submarine program is the jewel in the

04:45Crown right, but one of the things that became clear

04:48Looking at AUKUS is how much more and I think the people at this committee that we had to invest in our own

04:55Industrial base just to keep up just to get subs back in the water that are in dry dock

05:01We just have to do better and and the truth is there are a lot of reasons why shipbuilding is challenging

05:07We've got strong shipbuilding in the Northeast. We don't have enough

05:13Workers we don't have enough

05:17Capacity generally there a thousand reasons why naval shipbuilding is challenging

05:23I would like us to think there might be ways that we could work with allies and partners here

05:28But it's extremely difficult a lot of domestic legislation

05:32But I will tell you when I look at the balance sheet you went through several things senator

05:38But the other thing that one thing is you did not mention, but you think about it often

05:41I know I've heard you speak about this look at the difference in

05:46shipbuilding between the United States and China

05:48Deeply concerning we have to do better in this arena or we will not be the great

05:54Naval power that we need to be for the 21st century

05:57I'll say one last thing

05:59The 20 year engagement in the Middle East was largely about ground forces about army about special forces

06:07We made all the appropriate investments. We modernized we innovated

06:12Now is the Navy and the Air Force's time. They have to step up. They have to invest more. They have to be more

06:21Innovative they have to be more intrepid and they've got to understand that the

06:26Indo-pacific arena

06:28Requires the most capable naval and advanced long-range air capabilities that the United States has ever

06:35Needed before and that's that's where we have to put our focus. Sorry. I didn't mean to go on so long senator shots

'The Core Of National Power': Marco Rubio Sounds Alarm On China's Strength In 'Key Core Industries'

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