Seven Things You Can’t Say about China: Insights from US Senator Tom Cotton
ALEC has long held that the PRC is the most significant and complicated national and homeland security challenge faced by the United States today.
The Hudson Institute recently hosted US Senator Tom Cotton (AR) for a discussion on his book Seven Things You Can’t Say about China. The event focused on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in American society, industry, and government, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when critics of China were often dismissed as hysterical or xenophobic.
In his book, Senator Cotton outlines the seven critical truths about China that are often suppressed:
- China is an evil empire;
- China is preparing for war;
- China is waging an economic world war;
- China has infiltrated our society;
- China has infiltrated our government;
- China is coming for our kids;
- China could win.
Cotton emphasized the severity of China’s threats, explaining that the situation is even worse than it appears. Citing China’s economic influence as its greatest weapon, an influence that the US has invited, he stressed that financial entanglement poses one of the greatest global risks. The PRC’s multinational corporations and industrial tycoons are especially concerning. He warned that losing Taiwan to Communist China would be catastrophic, leading to an immediate global depression, stock market crashes, and worldwide nuclear proliferation as nations struggled to develop their own nuclear umbrellas.
He expressed concern about China’s control over US film narratives and commented on the infiltration of our media outlets with many receiving revenues from PRC-linked companies. He described China as a “techno-totalitarian” state, citing that over half of the world’s surveillance cameras are installed in China to monitor and control its own people.
The Battle for America’s Youth
Cotton discussed China’s use of social media and fentanyl to rot the United States from within. He detailed how TikTok’s algorithm targets American children:
- Girls are bombarded with pro-eating disorder content, leading to mental health issues.
- Boys are flooded with violent videos and pornography, some even promoting suicide.
He considers these algorithms a deliberate effort to destabilize American society and weaken America’s future generations, likening it to a modern “reverse Opium War”.
China has also deliberately funneled illicit fentanyl into the US, leading to tens of thousands of deaths. These chilling tactics undermine America without firing a single shot.
ALEC has published videos on the toll that the fentanyl epidemic has taken on our youth here and here and hosted a Women’s Caucus Roundtable at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, devoted to the harm that social media platforms owned and controlled by our adversaries inflict on America’s youth. ALEC model policy An Act Restraining State and Local Governmental Use of Mobile or Online Software Applications and Electronic Devices under Control of a Foreign Adversary aims to prohibit most use of applications tied to foreign adversaries on state and local government devices.
The Only Way to Win
Senator Cotton concluded with a stark warning: China’s global ambitions are real and accelerating, and the only way to win is to prevent China from achieving its objectives. He sounded the alarm for America to wake up to the economic, military, and threats to our social fabric posed by the CCP before it is too late.
ALEC as a Resource
ALEC has long held that the PRC is the most significant and complicated national and homeland security challenge faced by the United States today. And while there is a robust, although not infallible, federal national security infrastructure, the states often lack such safeguards and are particularly vulnerable to PRC homeland security threats, interference, and influence. These vulnerabilities put the nation at risk as well.
Last September’s arrest of PRC agent Linda Sun, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff for NY Governor Kathy Hochul and as an aide to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, underscores how deeply China has infiltrated America’s states at the highest level. However, the states have the potential to be our greatest defense against China because they are often better situated to recognize threats. Texas passed the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act in response to an incident involving a financier with PRC ties that endangered their state’s critical infrastructure, and the ALEC model State Infrastructure Protection Act has the same goal.
ALEC adopted Victims of Communism Day Memorial Resolution not only to commemorate the 100 million victims of communism but to bring attention to the human rights violations still being committed by the PRC and other Communist countries. Among our model policies are the Act to Prohibit Confucius Institutes in Institutions of Higher Education to impede PRC infiltration of US universities; a resolution Urging the United States Government to Keep the American People Safe and Healthy by Decreasing the Nation’s Dependence on Foreign-Manufactured Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Medicine Especially from China to reduce America’s dependence on the PRC for pharmaceuticals; An Act to Prohibit State Contracts with Chinese Government-Owned or Affiliated Technology Manufacturers to enact procurement prohibitions on PRC technology similar to those at our national security agencies; and An Act to Identify and Report Certain Transactions to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to improve communication between the states and CFIUS.
Like Cotton, ALEC considers support for Taiwan an integral part of defending our nation from PRC influence and infiltration and has a large library of model policies to strengthen the US-Taiwan partnership, including the model Resolution to Prioritize Strengthening the US-Taiwan Partnership to Enhance Global Supply Chain Security and Resilience and the model Resolution to Oppose the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) Misuse of United Nations Resolution 2758 to Delegitimize Taiwan and Exclude Taiwan from International Organizations – a press release on this model policy is here. Bolstering the nation’s defenses against the PRC is a top national security priority, and the states are an important part of the solution.