why we are working around the clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it is easier to do yours. >> sparkght supports c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> up next, republican presidential candidate, kki haley, sharing her thoughts on china and u.s. foreign policy. that is followed by former president trump giving the keynoteddress at the faith and freedom coalition conference. later, ron desantis talking about border security at the u.s.-mexico border. >> next, republican presidential candidate, nikki haley, and u.s. foreign policy and deterring china from using military aggression against taiwan. she also discussed the stance of president biden and former

president trump toward china, and how her diplomatic approach would be different as president. from the enterprise institute in washington, d.c., this is one hour. >> i am especially honored to welcome ambassador nikki haley to our building. before i get to the main attraction, i would like to say a first word about zach cooper, our principal host and moderator. zach cooper is a senior fellow here, and he holds a phd from princeton where he teaches. he publishes frequently, advises members of congress and officials in the biden administration, and has worked on national security issues for president george w. bush. he is leading the new china playbook to ensure leaders in congress and the next administration properly understand both the threat of

the chinese communist party and how america's enduring strategic advantages position us to compete and to prevail. leading public figures, especially candidates for president, come to aei to address a great challenge of china because our scholars have been intellectual leaders in this debate. the track record on accurately predicting the ccp. ai scholars are using their insights on china to inform america's leaders and leaders they recognize the dangers the chinese communist party poses to his neighbors in the free world and that is what we launched our new china playbook to build on the track record on accurately predicting the ccp. aei scholars are using their insights on china to inform

america's leaders and leaders of allied nations. i am sure ambassador haley needs no introduction but i would like to recognize her service as united states ambassador to the united nations and as governor of south carolina. ambassador haley is the 2019 recipient of the crystal award to an individual who has made a practical contribution to improve government policy, social welfare or political understanding. nikki has been a great governor, a great ambassador, and a great friend to aei. i will turn things over to ambassador haley who will address these issues before sitting down with the conversation. join me in welcoming ambassador haley to the podium. [applause] nikki: thank you so much. it is great to be here. i will tell you in advanced i am getting over a bout of laryngitis.

if you see me grab the water, that is why. if my husband was not deployed, he would be thrilled i cannot speak for a while. i want to thank robert and aei for being great friends and partners through the years. when i was governor of south carolina, and as u.n. ambassador rice, it is great to know we have organizations like this that keep things front and center of what we should be thinking about. four years ago last month after i left the united nations, i gave a policy speech about china. i was in seoul, south korea. one part of the speech was what i had seen in the united nations. the other part was a broader look at the west approach to china over the past several decades. i warned about china's growing military power. it's growing repression at home and aggression abroad. and it's growing challenge to

american interests and america itself. i specifically called out its military civil fusion program where the chinese communist party exploits american companies to strengthen its military. i urged our leaders to think about china critically, creatively, and courageously. china's police state is more comprehensive. it has destroyed freedom in hong kong. it has deepened its genocide of the uighurs. it is threatening taiwan daily. its no limits alliance with russia has cemented. and of course, there was covid. despite its ongoing attempts at cover-up, the chinese communist party bears responsibility for the worst worldwide pandemic in a century with up to 20 million

deaths. through it all, the chinese military has become stronger, testing us like never before. last month, a chinese fighter jet came within 400 feet of an american aircraft flying in international airspace above the south china sea. earlier this month, a chinese naval ship came within 150 yards of an american destroyer in the taiwan straight. we all remember the chinese spy balloon that flew over our homeland months ago. it was not taking pictures of our prairies or beaches. it was flying over american nuclear missile sites, and this month it was revealed that china has developed a spy base in our own backyard on the fellow communist island of cuba. these provocations are not

coincidences or accidents. they are the purposeful actions of a communist dictatorship that is determined to expand its power and defeat america militarily and economically. america is china's number one target. the question is, what are we going to do about it? this is a central question of presidential leadership for the current president and for the next one. communist china is the greatest threat to american security and prosperity by far. it has stated its goal of diminishing american influence in the world and replacing it with its own. to meet this threat there must be a series of fundamental shifts in our policies. before i describe those changes, let us first look at what we

need to shift away from. china became a member of the wto in 2001. this proved to be a fateful decision. america brought china into the wto, democrats and republicans supported it. at the time and for more than a decade after there was a bipartisan consensus that this was all reward and no risk. our leaders told us it would bring china into the modern economy and open its huge market to the world. they said it would make china more free, open, and democratic. that china would become more like us. i understand why the stream was appealing. we saw it happen with japan after world war ii, and again with one asian country after another. from south korea to singapore, they moved into the company of free and open nations. but not china.

this american assumption proved disastrously false. our thinking neglected the role of communist ideology. the chinese communist party didn't want to be like us. it still does not. china grew stronger by taking advantage of our open markets but it also grew less free. president donald trump deserves credit for upending this bipartisan consensus. he made both parties take off their blinders. despite the divisions in our politics today, both parties are more clear eyed about the chinese threat that has been there for a long time. that is a good thing. but being clear eyed is not enough. it is not the same as having the right solutions and the necessary determination to protect america.

president trump was almost singularly focused on our trade relationship with china. he was right about our trade abuses. it was and still is a critical issue, but trump did too little about the rest of the chinese threat. he did not put us on a stronger military foothold in asia. he did not stop the flow of american technology and investment into the chinese military. he did not effectively rally our allies against the chinese threat. even the trade deal he signed came up short when china predictably failed to live up to its commitments. he also showed moral weakness in his zeal to befriend president xi, trump congratulated the communist party on its 70th anniversary of conquering china. that sent a wrong message to the

world. chinese communism must be condemned, never congratulated. china was militarily stronger when president trump left office than when he entered. that is bad. but joe biden's record is much worse. the list of president biden's failures in china is long. he has refused to seriously investigate china's cover-up of covid origins. he has done little to stop the expansion of china's footprint on our homeland. he has failed to address china's major role in the fentanyl crisis. he has weakened our own military. his obsessive focus on climate issues naively plays into china's negotiating hand and the situation is getting worse.

secretary of state blinken's visit last week was a goldplated invitation for more chinese aggression, not less. just look at what happened. china scolded us, then president xi announced it was a good meeting. he only says that when he gets a lot more than he gives. in fact, he gave us nothing. joe biden has more than 18 more months in office. mark my words, he is going to keep ignoring the chinese threat. we will have wasted four more years. we are falling behind but china is moving forward, faster than ever. its military is modernizing and expanding at a rapid pace. its building infrastructure around the globe that can be used by the military, it has new stealth bombers, it is repairing

to fight in outer space. it has hypersonic missiles that we don't. the chinese navy is especially concerning. less than 10 years ago, it was about the same size as ours. today, it has the largest fleet in the world with 340 ships, and plans to hit 400 in the next two years. we don't have plans to hit 350 ships in the next two decades. china has dramatically expanded its cyber capabilities. its hackers and spies are targeting everything from our military bases to our critical energy infrastructure. china has also deepened its infiltration of our homeland. it is exerting influence on campuses, and setting up police

stations on u.s. soil. china's abuse of american businesses is worse than ever. every u.s. company that works in china is effectively required to support the chinese military. they don't have a choice. the communist party is stealing our investments at a tune of $600 billion a year. it is using american enterprise to undermine american strength, and president biden is letting it happen. the communist party's endgame is clear. china is preparing its people for war. president xi has openly said it, we should take him at his word and act accordingly. instead, president biden continues to dither. his action makes conflict more likely. we must act now to keep the

peace and prevent war. we need a leader who will rally our people to meet this threat on every single front. as president, my top priority will be strengthening america's economy and america's military. we will protect america's prosperity and homeland from chinese aggression. we will tackle chinese meddling in our society and its manipulation of our economy, and we will hold the chinese party accountable while putting it on the global defensive. this is a seachange change in american policy. it is grounded in the reality that our leaders have failed to admit. china is much more than just a mere competitor. communist china is an enemy. it is the most dangerous foreign threat we faced since the second world war. we have to stop wasting time.

that was true four years ago when i said as much in seoul. it is more so today. it is time to marshall our strength and national will, we must respond in three ways, domestically, economically and militarily. confronting china starts at home. we must systematically eliminate its interference and infiltration of our society. the situation is worse than most people realize. the communist party has abused our openness in extraordinary ways. it uses economic freedom to threaten our security and food supplies. our academic freedom to confront our students and scholars and the freedom of speech to spread lies and shape our laws. china treats our homeland like

its personal playground. in recent years chinese investors have bought nearly 400,000 of acres of land in our country, that is twice the size of new york city. we are not just talking about any old property. china has bought miles of farms near sensitive military facilities, and china has taken a majority control of agricultural industries. this must end. the line between chinese investors and the chinese communist party is exceptionally thin. the national security risk is too great. we must prevent china from buying more land and force it to sell what it already has. we need similar resolve in our higher education system. china has set up so-called confucius institutes that spread

communist propaganda on our college campuses. when they get shut down, they quickly reopen under a different name. and china is giving hundreds of millions of dollars to our universities. this funding gives beijing a foothold in the best research institutions in the world. it once our research for its military. we should end this practice and ban all propaganda centers, and eliminate federal funding for universities that take china's money. universities must choose. you either take chinese money or american money, but the days of taking both are over. it should not be a hard decision. there are other steps we should take to protect our domestic institutions. right now the united states let's chinese companies lobby our government.

yet beijing ultimately controls those companies. these businesses are basically front groups for a foreign power. we should ban all lobbying from the communist party and chinese companies, and prevent former members of congress and military leaders from helping lobby on china's behalf. beijing should never be allowed to influence our laws. china is also behind the fentanyl crisis that is killing tens of thousands of americans every year. chinese companies make nearly all of the precursor chemicals that mexican cartels turn into fentanyl. china cannot plead innocence here, it knows exactly what it is doing by putting these chemicals into the hands of the cartels. we have tried sanctions but they are not working. we must ratchet up the pressure.

as president, i will push congress to revoke permanent normal trade relations until the flow of fentanyl ends. if china wants to start normal trade again, it will stop killing americans. that brings me to the second big policy shift. in addition to protecting our homeland, we must protect our economy. i am a firm believer in economic freedom, but it has long been recognized that not all trades with trading partners is the same. the father of capitalism, adam smith, wrote in "the wealth of nations," that great britain's interest in preserving naval supremacy was more important than free-trade in the maritime sector. defense, he wrote, is of much more importance than opulence. the challenge today is the national security, is that

national security is affected by almost every part of our relationship with china. no one understands that better than the chinese. they have desperately pursued american investment and innovation precisely to strengthen their military. american companies are banned from selling military hardware and services to china, but they still sell billions of dollars worth of goods to the chinese market. we must look at these sales through a national security lens. much of its military application simply slips through the cracks of u.s. law. but chinese law requires u.s. companies to transfer technology to chinese companies as part of the price of doing business on chinese soil. this cannot continue.

u.s. businesses must recognize the threats to themselves and to our american security. beijing's focus on military fusion demands it. china already steals up to $600 billion of american intellectual property every year. our loss is the chinese military's gain. advanced technology is especially important. right now our federal government keeps a detailed list of the most sensitive technologies that are dangerous to export but it is not a black list. we still let companies send this tech to china. they just have to file the right application. it happens all the time. in 2022, the biden administration approved 70% of licenses for exporting controlled technology to china. think about that.

we must end the export of sensitive technology to china. full stop. and we must keep china away from our biggest breakthroughs and cutting edge companies. we know beijing wants to beat america in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other technologies. we also know that american innovation is the best in the world, the communist party knows that too. their approach is basically, if you cannot beat them, buy them or steal it. we should block any chinese purchase of an american company specializing in advanced technology. no more exports or acquisitions period. for that matter, we should have no more investments that undermine america. china cannot by certain technologies from american

companies, but americans can still invest in chinese companies developing those same technologies. talk about a loophole. it is a massive one. by one estimate, u.s. portfolio investment in china rose $800 billion between 2017 and 2020 alone. not all this money is funding military and technology breakthroughs, but much of it is. china is using our federally invested pensions to the leapfrog america. the american people deserve better. i will protect our investors and our national security. no more investment in any company that helps the chinese military or supports the chinese party. period. these steps are needed to prevent war and preserve peace.

we can no longer be complicit in china's military rise. for that matter, we cannot continue to neglect our own military. this is the third big task we must undertake. it is time to face a hard truth. our military strength is not where it should be. it must be transformed to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. we are falling behind in almost every single area. look at recruitment. the army, navy, and air force all say they will miss their recruitment goals this year. china is building more hypersonic missiles by the day. our hypersonic missile project is barely off the ground. how about nuclear weapons? china has more ballistic missile launchers than we do.

it is building warheads at a rapid pace and deploying delivery vehicles we don't have. meanwhile, our nuclear triad is getting old and older. president biden is considering retiring some nuclear weapons, and even canceling new ones. few things are more foolish in a rapidly dangerous world. china is also investing more than ever in space and cyber warfare. these are the battlefields of the future. we have a long way to go. in many respects, we are playing catch-up. a stronger military is the linchpin to our national security and to preventing wars. some might wonder if such a build up is possible in a short amount of time. our supply chain depends on -- our supply chain dependence

on china makes it a serious challenge, but it must be done, and it can be done. the pentagon has gotten lazy. its procurement projects drag on for decades. we must cut through the bureaucracy and stop playing favorites with defense companies, and bring brand-new weapons and projects to the field in record time. we cannot wait 50 years for new ships and missiles. we cannot even wait five years. if china can do it, america can too. we can do it far better. we must also rally nations to our side. we should deepen our military ties with japan, south korea, and australia. and forge stronger bonds with india and the philippines. and we must finally get europe to recognize that china threatens it as much as it does us. european countries are further behind than we are in

recognizing the chinese threat. it is time to shake them from their slumber. we need a united front across the world. and one u.s. partner is especially important. taiwan is the communist party's most immediate target. if china invades, it will trigger the war that none of us want. we cannot let that happen. we and our allies should give taiwan everything it needs to defend itself. we should make sure the american naval presence in the taiwan straight remains strong. and we should let china know that an invasion of taiwan would not just be met with a few slap on the wrist sanctions, it would mean a full-blown economic decoupling and would massively damage china. we should stand with taiwan without apology, because our security is intertwined.

the actions i have laid out today were needed yesterday. they should be implemented tomorrow. sadly, president biden has shown he is not up to the task. a new president is needed, one who will do what is necessary to defend america. but there is one thing that needs to happen before the next election. in fact, it must happen now. the united states must help ukraine defeat the russian invasion. a russian defeat would be an enormous loss for china and a true victory for peace. the events of this past weekend show how weak and shaky russian leadership is. now is the time to seize the moment and help ukraine bring this war to a decisive end. make no mistake, china is watching the war in

ukraine with great interest. what has it seen so far? it has seen the failure of russian aggression. it has seen the russian military weakened for a generation. it has seen an unusual level of european unity and previously neutral european countries joining the western alliance. and it has seen a strengthened, not weakened, ukrainian result. china has seen what it most fears if it invades taiwan. but that could change in short order. if america and the west abandon ukraine and russia succeeds in taking its territory and freedom, china will hear an unmistakable message. that message can only encourage china to invade taiwan as soon as possible. the warning signs are flashing.

president biden has been too slow and weak in helping ukraine. he has dragged out this war and given russia and china a reason to question our future commitments. that is a recipe for more wars in europe and asia. our policy should not be to freeze the war on current front, that would lead to a stalemate and continued fighting. our policy should be to help ukraine reclaim its territory and bring this war to a quick and decisive end. that does not require american troops or cash assistance. it requires us and our allies to supply the equipment, ammunition, and training to get the job done. if we do that, china will see our resolve and rethink its plans on taiwan. it will see the true cost of war

before it considers launching one. it will realize that america will not roll over, that we will do what is necessary to defend our interests and defeat our enemies. that is the surest way to peace. if we had sent this message years ago, there would never have been a russian invasion in ukraine, and chinese aggression would have been curbed. china has spent decades preparing to fight. it has played us like a fiddle. our leaders have responded with apathy and even applause. this inaction has weakened america and strengthened china. we are now in a very dangerous situation against a very powerful enemy. the hour is late, but it is not too late to wake up and take charge of our destiny.

peace depends on it, and freedom demands it. if we really now, the chinese communist party will end up on the ash heap of history like the soviet communist party. we still have the power to protect our country. we only need courage and leadership to meet this threat head on. now is the time to stand up to china and stand together to save america. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> wonderful. thank you, ambassador haley. you have managed to bring about half of washington's press corps. they are ready to ask questions but before they do i have a couple. this is a particularly

interesting time. we are seeing the biden regime shift for the first time, there were two years they were not engaging much with beijing to a series of visits. we just had the secretary of state go to beijing. now it seems that treasury secretary yellen and john kerry are going to go in the next couple of weeks or months. the argument the biden team makes is we have to engage to prevent conflict. critics have claimed that this is not what is going on. that this is perhaps talk for talk's sake. you have been ambassador to the u.n., negotiated with the chinese. i wanted to hear about how you think about the purpose of negotiating with an adversary, with china. what do you think we should be thinking about getting out of these conversations from a strategic perspective? nikki: i do not mind that

secretary blinken went to china. we should always keep that communication going when dealing with enemies. it is the way they're doing it. it is showing that america is running scared from china. that is what turns my stomach. the idea that secretary yellen said we should look for ways to economically tie ourselves to china is ludicrous. the idea that john kerry wants a climate deal with china so we can be friends is not acknowledging the priorities we need to be dealing with. they should be asking why are you trying to start a war? why are you being aggressive in terms of a spy centre on cuba? why are you stealing intellectual property at $600 billion a year? why are you buying u.s. soil that happens to be near our most sensitive dilatory installations? there are a lot of questions we should be asking. why are you allowing fentanyl across the american border?

there are multiple things blinken could have talked about and he did not. instead, he sat there. you can look at the picture and let president xi scold us. that is not showing american strength. american strength is when you tell countries what we expect of them. you are not reactionary to help -- to how they act. china is scolding us because they can. we have to make sure -- when i was at the united nations, i very much told countries what america was for and against. i did not care if they did not like me, but i wanted them to respect america. we have to shift that. biden is not doing that. they are asleep at the wheel, and they are looking more for appeasement than strength. that is a mistake. that is incredibly dangerous for america and our allies. >> i think the area where the chinese seem least interested in engaging is military to military, which is what the

administration most wants. they want some form of guardrail but that is what they do not seem to be getting. nikki: think about that. the fact that the chinese refused to answer our defense call, if that is not disrespect, and if that shows that they are not in any way worried about us, it is that. that is a big deal when a country's department of defense does not answer another country's department of defense. that tells you everything you need to know. that is why biden needs to stop pandering and start being aggressive and strong in how we deal with china. >> i want to shift to allies and partners, something you have talked about a lot. we have some of our ally partner ambassadors in the room. they share your interest in these comments like this. when you think about alliances and partnerships, you have always talked about that being central to china competition.

i always hear two critiques of the u.s. from our friends. the first is they want the u.s. to push back hard against china in certain areas and are willing to go along with that, but they might want us to tone down the rhetoric. the second thing you hear a lot is the u.s. does not have an economic game plan. we do not have a trade strategy. this administration and to some extent the last one. how do we think about this going forward? how do you get allies and partners along to make the most robust coalition to shape chinese behavior over the next few years? nikki: our allies told me the same thing at the united nations when i was raising a ruckus about nord stream. when we saw that the europeans were completely caving to russia, especially germany, and we said do not do it. you never want to be dependent on an enemy. if there is ever a lesson we should learn with china, look at what happened with russia.

if you do not think the chinese will pull the rug out from under us anytime they want, and if you do not think that will put u.s. in a bind, you are incredibly naive. that is the problem. instead of sitting there in listening to what our allies want us to say, we should treat our allies is the friends they are and give them the warnings that we know are out there. we want them to be as protected as we do. we need more friends. look at what happened, biden goes and calls saudi arabia a pariah. mbs is going to outlive every leader. he is young. call him a pariah and you send them to china. we need the arab countries to be with us, not china. my guess is they would rather be with us than china. the problem is our allies

do not know what we are doing. a lot of that happened after afghanistan. the idea that we left the air force base in the middle of the night without telling our allies who stood shoulder with us for decades because we ask them to be there. the british ambassador is here. the u.k., we did not tell them we were leaving in the middle of the night. think about what that told our friends, and more important what did it tell our enemies. these countries need to trust that we know what we are doing. we are not showing that. we are not showing economic strength with trade proposals. we are not showing military strength in the way that we are building up our military. we are not showing strength in terms of challenging our adversaries. we have to start showing what we are doing. i know when america speaks, the world listens. when america acts, the world follows. who we are, the world wants to

be, but we have to know who we are. america is not showing that. >> one last question before we come to the audience, which is something talked about in your remarks -- ukraine. there is a big debate within conservative circles about whether the united states can both address russia and china at the same time. you have written about this in "the wall street journal." when you look at the russia and china challenge, can you explain a little bit about how you think the u.s. can address both of them at the same time? there are critics who say the u.s. cannot help ukraine and has to shift to china. how you see this? nikki: we can bounce multiple balls at the same time. if we cannot, god help us, but you have to do that. you have to see the correlation of china and russia to start with. first, credit where credit is due. look at the ukrainians. russia goes in and invades.

they are so passionate. they have the will to defend their country. men go straight to the front lines to fight for their country. the women say, we are not staying back. they make molotov cocktails to help. everybody gave ukraine five days. look at the passion and the will they have had to fight. russia has fallen to its lowest point. we knew that because they were getting drones from iran and missiles from north korea. they raised the draft age in russia to 65. we have seen how bad they are have struggled. this weekend showed further cracks and what happens. it is interesting if you take a , dictator who thinks he is invincible and he suddenly finds that is not, that is a pretty eye-opening moment for not just putin, but all the russians and their allies.

this is an opportunity to see that. but you look at the weakness of what they had, you look at the fact that russia took 27% of ukraine and now ukraine has taken so much back that they are down to 12%. that is the side of the war and the passion. now remember dictators tell you exactly what they are going to do. they are very transparent. china said they were going to take hong kong, they did. russia said they were going to invade ukraine, we watched it. china sent him one is next. we believe them. china said that after ukraine, poland the baltics are next. that leads us to a world war. that is what we are trying to prevent. before the olympics, what do you see? china and russia hold hands and name themselves unlimited partners before the world. then you went and you had a russian plane knocked down an american drone.

interesting, president xi shows up in russia. make no mistake. a win for russia is a win for china. but if ukraine wins, it sends a message to china about taiwan and it sends a message to north korea about testing ballistic missiles, and it sends a message to iran about building a bomb. what we need to do is make sure we work with our allies and give them the equipment and the ammunition to win. after this weakness over the weekend, joe biden should be on the phone making sure ukraine has everything. this is a massive opportunity. while putin is distracted and unstable, this is the time ukraine should move. we have to make sure we are doing it. unfortunately, i do not think biden will be there. >> with that, we will open it up. i already see a number of hands. we will bring microphones around. introduce yourself. i see in the back in the orange,

kylie from cnn. we will get the microphone to you. >> thank you, ambassador. it is a very useful conversation having just traveled with the secretary to china. i appreciate it. i have two questions, one is china-related, one is the news of the day. you said the united states needs to be clear with china that the invasion of taiwan would mean full economic decoupling. i am wondering if what you are calling for here is a holistic change in the policy that has historically been u.s. policy for china regarding strategic ambiguity. should the u.s. get rid of strategic ambiguity? my second question is, just last night cnn was able to procure the actual tape of president

trump discussing classified documents at bedminster and admitting the documents had not been declassified before he was discussing them in a public setting. should that tape disqualify him from running for president this time around and being president? nikki: your first question, you have to say it again because i was thrown off by your second question. >> strategic ambiguously, should it be dead? nikki: this is about preventing war. forget the other policies. this is about the fact that america has been asleep the we'll. we have not paid attention to the chinese infiltration into higher education with u.s. police stations, buying farmland, stealing intellectual property, building up the military. we have got to look at the whole picture. the best way to deter china from invading taiwan is to make sure

we have a strong military, that we let them know what we expect of them, that we form with our allies, and that we take these issues head-on. i think everybody that wants to talk about strategic ambiguity, war with taiwan, that is the wrong thing to look at. what do we do to stop war? that should be our number one priority. the way you stop war is you win in ukraine, build up your military, let china know that they have to sell the farmland and make sure that they no longer infiltrate our technology companies. the way you do it is you let our businesses know that if china pulls out the rug from you tomorrow, where will you be headed? we have to start that process. china will take notice. those are the conversations we need to have. that is why there has to be a complete policy shift so we can prevent war. in terms of the recording, we will let the courts play that

out and do whatever. i have long said anybody who wants to run for president can run. that is for the people to decide. >> dmitry, "the financial times." >> thank you. i am the u.s. china correspondent at financial times. president biden has said he would order the u.s. military to intervene if china attacked taiwan. do you agree that that is the right message to send? separately, when you talk to voters on the campaign trail, do you think the american people are ready to support u.s. military intervention to defend taiwan against chinese attack? nikki: again that is not what we , should be talking about. not u.s. military intervention it is what are we doing to prevent war. biden, rather than talking about whether it should be military or not, that is the wrong question. we need to let china know we are on to them and that we will defend taiwan by sending

equipment, ammunition, doing the training now. there is no bigger message we could send to china than to strengthen taiwan and work with our allies. that is the biggest lesson for ukraine. biden sat around for a year waiting as russia surrounded ukraine and did nothing. we have a chance to do something. let's get in front of the situation, get with our allies, strengthen taiwan, make china see what would happen if they decided to invade. the best way to do that is to show what ukraine is going to do to russia. let's finish it in ukraine, win that territory back. i promise you china will not want to go against that alliance. they are watching carefully. china watched every company that left russia. they watched every country that is helping ukraine. they are watching all the equipment and ammunition. they are seeing where our sensitivities are. let's not show them any.

let's show that when we fight for a friend, we make sure we give them all the ammunition, equipment, and skill they need to finish the job. i think voters understand we want to prevent war. there is not a voter who will tell you that does not want to make sure we prevent war. i'm the wife of a combat veteran, he is deployed right now. the last thing i want is my husband to go to war. what i talk about every day is preventing war so my husband does not have to go, preventing war sore military never has to be in that situation. if you ask any military soldier, any individual serving our country, they want equipment, the ammunition, the training. they do not want gender pronoun classes, they do not want dei. they want to focus on being the strongest and best military in the world. we need to give them every

opportunity to do that. >> some polling data from the reagan institute looks at these questions. it shows a fair amount of support amongst the american public on ukraine and taiwan. josh rogan? >> thank you. actually, demetri took my question but let me come up with one on the fly. nikki: make it a good one. >> thank you for your time in service. i was intrigued that you said president trump did too little, and that he showed moral weakness. tell us more about that. are you referring to the hong kong protesters and rioters? are there other examples that you remember from your time? nikki: i gave the example. to me, the most glaring is you do not congratulate the chinese communist party for taking over china 70 years ago. we do not congratulate communism.

we condemn it. that is the moral clarity i am talking about. we have to know right from wrong. you never go and tell someone who is stealing, you go get them. someone who is oppressing people to keep oppressing. you do not tell a dictator the way they hold their hand down on their people is a good thing. you congratulate freedom, congratulate democracy, congratulate when people have the individual liberty to do what they need to do. you never congratulate communists. that sends a bad message. what we say matters. countries pay attention. our enemies pay more attention. we have to be very responsible with those words. >> we will get a couple more questions in. >> david drucker with the dispatch. thank you, ambassador. two questions.

one, along the parameters of when we talk, the world listens and preventing war, would ending the one china policy, recognizing taiwan's independence do that? number two, you referenced china setting up shop in cuba to spy on us. if you become president in january, 2025, what do you do about that? nikki: first of all, when you talk about taiwanese independence, they have not said they want to be independent. they have not said they like to be an independent country. they just want to be left alone. it is not up to us to say what they should do. they have to say it first. they have to be the ones who say, either yes, we want to be an independent country or be where we are. they have yet to say that. we should not jump in front of them and do it. the way we see it is they are democratic, free and like being left alone. that is what we are trying to defend. they have to make that decision. in terms of the second question, it was -- >> cuba.

nikki: cuba. first of all, you can't have our biggest enemy literally on our doorstep. you cannot have it. china and cuba both need to know they have to dismantle that. the more important and concerning part of that spy center is not just that they are spying, but are they going to send military troops? that is the biggest concern. are they going to start doing training there? are we going to have a military 100 miles away from us, our enemy? we have to make sure they disband that. china needs to know that is a clear threat. if they are going to complain that we are in the taiwan strait which is international waters or the south china sea, you had sure better bet that they cannot put up a military solution that close to us and have us not see it as a provocation.

when it comes to fentanyl and things like this, if we have to end all normal trade practices with china, there is nothing more damaging to china than for us to do that. our national security is worth it. it is worth whatever it takes to protect the american people. if that means a full on decoupling, it means a full on decoupling. we have american lives to save. i do not trust china with one ounce of anything they say or do in this process. >> we have time for one more question. we will switch over here, in the back right there. >> zach weiss, "national journal." the miami mayor suarez said this morning that he did not seem to

know who the uighurs were in china. what we do say to him about this issue? nikki: over a million muslim uighurs in china, they are making them change their name, change their religion, sexual abuse, genocide. we promised never again to look away from genocide and it is happening right now in china. no one is saying anything because they are too scared of china. part of american foreign policy should always be that we fight for human rights for all people. what is happening with the uighurs is disgusting. the fact that the whole world is ignoring it is shameful. >> cannot ask one final quick question on that, it is an issue you have talked a lot about, human rights, consistently for years. there is a challenge which is we can talk about human rights, but it is not clear how much of an effect we are having. how do you think about trying to change chinese behavior in an area like this where we cannot

physically go in and force them to adjust what they are doing? nikki: do not underestimate the strength of the american voice. i saw that if united nations. sometimes humiliating a country is enough to move that behavior and we saw that. china never likes to be called out. if we and our allies seriously called out what was happening with the uighers, they would throw a temper tension but then we figure out how they needed to change what they are doing. we should always speak out. we cannot always say it's human rights are nothing but we cannot never not talk about the abuses that are happening around the world. every living person deserves to have the freedoms and the safety as an individual. and america, that is what makes us great, the fact that we are willing to call out anyone that is not treating individual with respect they deserve. >> ambassador haley, thank you

so much for your comments today. nikki: thank. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> and we hope you will join us for future new china playbook events. ambassador haley, thank you so much. nikki: it is a pleasure. thank you so much. [applause] [indiscernible conversations]

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