Raja Krishnamoorthi Demonstrates How China Allegedly Coerced Other Countries Using Their Own Exports

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During a House CCP Committee hearing, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) asked former Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel about China's control over products.

Transcript

00:00Ranking Member Krishnamoorthy. Thank you Mr. Chair and it's such an honor to have such

00:06distinguished witnesses today so thank you so much for coming in. I don't normally do this

00:10but I brought in a nice bottle of Australian wine. Ever since China banned it in 2020 for

00:19Australia calling for a COVID investigation this wine has been called Freedom Wine and Prime

00:26Minister Morrison you helped Australia sell a lot of Freedom Wine right? I remember

00:33Secretary Pompeo sent me a picture with a very similar bottle at the time and yeah

00:40look at some point China was going to tire of drinking Wuhan Pinot I think and was

00:46going to go back to the go back to the better product. Well what's really

00:52fascinating about this is that Taiwan actually coined the term Freedom Wine and

00:57what's fascinating is that when you and I visited Taiwan last year they serve

01:02Freedom Wine at the lunch and that goes to what the ambassador was talking about

01:06which is what when friends and partners band together they can fight bands by

01:12China and so what's very also what's also interesting is that I also brought

01:18something else Freedom Pineapple cakes made by what in Taiwan are called Freedom

01:27Pineapples. This is because after CCP banned Australian wine you guessed it they

01:34banned Taiwan's pineapples and Ambassador Emanuel after this ban in Japan sales of

01:41Taiwan's pineapples went bananas right? I am waiting for you to hold up some

01:47Chicago 312 beer. It's coming. Unfortunately Ambassador Japan was the next

01:55target and you alluded to this because after Japan attended a 2023 summit with

02:00the US and South Korea here at Camp David which you attended China banned all

02:06Japanese seafood citing food safety concerns but Mr. Ambassador here are some

02:12pictures of you judging by those our friendship on two of these out of three

02:19photos. Judging by these photos ambassador I think you believe that those

02:23allegations of safety concerns were completely fabricated right? It was a it

02:29was complete fabrication because they were just simply trying to hurt they were

02:34trying to hurt the Japanese for doing the right thing. In my opening remarks I

02:38alluded to this man Liu Xiaobo one of China's champions of democracy who won the

02:45Nobel Peace Prize while in prison in China and in response the CCP cut ties with

02:52Norway where the Nobel Committee is based and banned Norway salmon. There seems to be a

02:58seems to be a trend here. Norway's response to the CCP was this. Norway said Norway attaches high

03:08importance to China's core interests and will not support actions that undermine

03:13them and will do its best to avoid any future damage to bilateral relations. Now

03:18Ambassador to me that's not an apology that's groveling wouldn't you say? Yes

03:24Mr. I think that Prime Minister Morrison this is what Beijing wanted you to do after

03:30you called for investigation into COVID. I want to turn to my next topic. In my

03:37opening I mentioned that China dominates rare earths. In contrast we only have one rare

03:43earth mine in the entire US. It's owned by MP materials which just recently received

03:50nearly half a billion dollars of investments from DoD. This deal will one allow MP to

03:56make more magnets, these things which I talked about earlier, and two create a 10-year guarantee

04:03that DOD will buy MPs rare earths at a floor price, ensuring that MP and hopefully others

04:10can compete. Now Mr. Ambassador, it feels like the administration and the private sector need

04:15to do more of this with regard to going all in and creating our own resilient supply chain

04:21domestically. What do you think? Mr. Ranking Member, what I would say is yes. The short answer

04:28is yes. I have advocated this before and I think we as a country, and the National Security Council

04:35does this, they issue at the beginning of every term a strategic review of the challenges. I think

04:41the National Economic Council inside the White House should do the same on economic both opportunities

04:47and vulnerabilities and then be able to then lay out a blueprint out of a ameliorate or reduce your

04:55vulnerabilities and how to accentuate your strengths. And I would note if I could, in almost every

05:01instance, Japan, in the case of both the Philippines, Australia, one of China's great vulnerabilities is

05:08food. They target other countries' food. That is a strategic opportunity given their psychological and

05:15economic vulnerability as it relates to sourcing food product for 1.5 billion people.

05:21If I might ask one final question. This image from the American Revolution

05:29is the join or die image. This was used to rally the 13 colonies to fight back together against British

05:34tyranny. We've updated it into this new graphic, which I think builds upon what Ambassador Emanuel was

05:41talking about, which is join or die. Today, America and our friends, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, and others,

05:49are like the divided parts of the snake. And if we operate together, we can fight Chinese coercion.

05:57And I think, you know, Ambassador Emanuel, this is what you were referring to in your Article 5

06:04comments about fighting together against Japanese coercion rather than fighting alone, right?

06:10Correct. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I yield back.

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