Statement of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
March 29, 2007
U.S. China Commission
Thank you for inviting me here today to address the commission regarding China's Military Modernization and its Impact on the United States and the Asia-Pacific. I believe that the Chinese government has embarked on a well orchestrated campaign to put China on the path to global domination. We are feeling the results of this successful effort as we run into road blocks to U.S. foreign policy in Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Burma and elsewhere.
I held a hearing last Congress on China's influence on U.S. foreign policy through U.S. educational institutions, multilateral organizations and corporate America. I believe that the single largest long term threat to the United States is the attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to regain what it believes to be China's lost status as the most powerful military and economic country in the world. It is successfully accomplishing this goal through a successful perception management campaign.
Under the leadership of the CCP China's billion people have been educated to hate America and because we are they believe stopping them from achieving their rightful power and influence. Unfortunately when western academics or policy makers warn of the impending danger they are ridiculed and isolated by American business, media and educational institutions.
This commission is fully aware of China's military buildup, its brutal repression of religious practitioners, its theft of some of our most deadly military technology, its flaunting violation of intellectual property rights, and its friendly relations with North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Burma and other rouge regimes. The commission is also aware of China's spread of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and North Korea, its threats against democratic Japan, and Taiwan and its destabilizing territorial claims against democracies such as India and the Philippines not to mention Russia which may or may not be on the road to democracy. You also know about China's disturbing method of purchasing oil around the world by outbidding private companies and then by controlling the oil at the wellhead. But the American people and this commission have heard little about why these threatening displays of arrogance and power are going unchallenged. Why is it that our nation keeps ignoring the hard cold fact that China's dictators have some very real evil and devious goals?
The question is no longer whether or not the PRC's military buildup and economic growth is threatening to the free world. The real question is how do we identify the mechanisms by which the CCP has been operating its successful perception management campaign which facilitates its goal to gather more and more power and neutralize it enemies? We must ask how have our think tanks, newspapers and intelligence community been infiltrated and 'turned?'
Before Constantine Menges died he wrote a book titled, China: The Gathering Threat. In it he predicted global domination by the People's Republic of China unless the United States recognized the threat and quickly began to respond to it.
As our nation wages war on Islamic terror the threat that we face from the PRC goes unrecognized and unchecked. Simultaneously, NATO is disintegrating and cannot be relied upon to help us counter the rapidly expanding threat of a tyrannical and globally powerful China.
A new alliance needs to be forged to secure the peace and freedom of the world in the decades ahead. The U.S. Congress can and should play a leading role by exploring the potential for cooperation with like-minded parliamentarians in India, Japan and Russia. It is fitting that talk about a future security alliance begins in the legislative bodies of these nations.
I propose that a conference chaired by your Commission and perhaps presided over by Speaker Pelosi be held here in the Capitol.
The symbolism would be an inspiring addition to her leadership on the China issue underscoring the need to develop a strategy to deal with a powerful and aggressive China, and the severe implications if this responsibility is not met.
Constantine's insights helped end the Cold War. His concern about "the gathering threat of China" cannot be understated. Now it's up to us and the collective wisdom and authority of this Commission can get the process started.
Thank you for permitting me testify today.