Ricketts: Marco Rubio Will Set the Tone for All-Of-Society Approach to Win Competition With PRC

January 15, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a senior member of the SenateCommittee on Foreign Relations, questioned U.S. Senator Marco Rubio at the confirmation hearing of Rubio’s expected nomination by President Trump to be U.S. Secretary of State. Ricketts highlighted the need to develop an all-of-society approach to combat the growing influence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

“Xi Jinping has vowed to be the world dominating power by 2049,” said Senator Ricketts. “We should take him at his word. That’s what he believes he’s going to try and do. It’s time for us to go on the offensive and abandon delusions about what kind of adversary we face. This is not a managed competition. This is a competition we must win. It will take more than an all-of-government approach. It will take an all-of-society approach to be able to win this. As our lead diplomat, Senator Rubio, you are in a position to set the tone. And that’s why I can’t think of a better pick to be the Secretary of State than you.”

Ricketts asked Rubio to explain to everyday Nebraskans why an all-of-society approach to the PRC was essential.

“If we stay on the road we’re on right now, in less than ten years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not,” said Senator Rubio. “Everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch, and everything in between… So if we don’t change course, we are going to live in a world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not. That’s an unacceptable outcome.”

Ricketts made the comments in a hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

TRANSCRIPT:

Senator Ricketts: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

“Well, Senator Rubio, congratulations on your nomination to this very, very difficult job. I want to thank you for your previous service in the U.S. Senate and your willingness to take on this job, should you be confirmed. And I also want to thank your family as well for their support for you to be able to be a U.S. senator and to apply for this job as Secretary of State. And I want to also express my gratitude to all the members of the State Department. We have a lot of people who choose to serve our country overseas, spend time away from their friends and family, and I can’t think of a more noble calling. And you’re taking over a department that’s very, very important to us.

“On Sunday, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security advisor, said: ‘the American people are safer, and the country is better off than we were four years ago.’ Let me repeat, ‘the American people are safer and the country is better off than four years ago.’

“I don’t know who believes that. I don’t believe that. I think the election results demonstrate the vast majority of Americans don’t believe that. We don’t believe it at home. Inflation has hurt average Americans’ pocketbooks. Open border policies have put Americans at risk. And I don’t believe we see it overseas.

“In fact, Senator Rubio, should you be confirmed, you’re being handed a job at a time when this country is in the most danger we’ve been in since World War II. It’s a very dangerous time in the world. And your opening remarks demonstrate that you know that. We’re not better off and we’re not safer.

“President Biden started this with his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. That projected weakness and an incomprehension of what it means to have a policy of deterrence. Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and started the largest war in Europe since World War II after that withdrawal. I believe it was because he saw weakness in this Biden administration. It’s been the President’s fear of helping Ukraine that has contributed to putting him in the untenable position they are today, by slow rolling the weapons that Ukraine needs to be able to defend themselves. His incomprehensible and incoherent policy has caused him to handcuff American liquid natural gas exports, while delaying tough sanctions on the Russian oil and gas industry, which, as you know, is the lifeblood of the Russian war machine.

“The Middle East is equally disastrous. Instead of enforcing sanctions on Iran, Biden naively tried to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, enabling the regime to generate $100 billion in oil revenue. And I want to point out that during the Trump administration, because of sanctions, Iran’s foreign reserves fell from $122 billion to less than $14 billion. That hampered their ability to be able to fund terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. What the Biden administration has done is allowed the Iranian regime to enrich enough weapons grade uranium to be a week or two away from having a nuclear weapon.

“And since October 7th, President Biden has not supported Israel in the way he has needed. And because of the previously mentioned money that he’s allowed the Iranians to have, that has funded the terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, our allies like Israel, have been attacked. And we’ve been attacked directly. Thankfully, Israeli has had the courage to stand up to these terrorists and take matters into its own hand. And it’s led to the decimation of Hamas and Hezbollah. But no amount of revisionist history can change the fact that this was despite the lack of support from the Biden administration, not because of the support from the Biden administration.

“And of course, let’s not forget North Korea and how dangerous they have become. And the fact that we are now seeing North Korean troops in Europe. A thought four years ago that was unthought by anybody.

“And of course, one of the most concerning things is Biden’s weakness has emboldened the greatest adversary we have on the face of the Earth right now, which is the People’s Republic of China.

“The People’s Republic of China is the head of the snake of this axis of dictators that are challenging the United States today. They are challenging our freedom, our security, and the very way of life we have. Beijing has had a direct hand in each of the problems I just mentioned. That’s why addressing any one of them cannot be done without making sure that we are thinking about how we are deterring the People’s Republic of China. When everything is a priority, nothing’s a priority.

“And Senator Rubio, your top priority must be the People’s Republic of China. Since the election in November, so this is all within the last two months, the PRC has hacked our Treasury Department, including CFIUS, continued what has been described as the worst telecom hack in U.S. history, sabotaged important undersea communication cables in Asia and Europe, deployed ships to the South China Sea to harass our allies like the Philippines, in their own territorial waters, simulated a naval blockade of the Japanese islands for the first time, conducted the largest naval drills in decades, targeting Taiwan and the broader Western Pacific, revealed new mobile piers suitable for a Taiwan invasion, unveiled advanced aircraft and launched the world’s largest amphibious warship. And they’ve allowed Iran to draw down and ship nearly 3 million barrels of oil from a storage site in China.

“It’s obvious that XI Jinping is positioning his chess pieces in preparation for war. He’s directed his military to be prepared to take Taiwan by 2027. And folks, that’s only two years away. Now it’s true, that does not mean that he will invade in 2027. And it’s also true that it’s not predetermined. But it should be very concerning to all of us that he’s given his military that direction. Because time and time again, dictators tell people what they’re going to do, and then they go out and try and do it. The only thing that dictators respond to is force, strength, peace through strength. This was something Ronald Reagan understood a long time ago, and it’s what we have to get back to the United States.

“Xi Jinping has vowed to be the world dominating power by 2049. We should take him at his word. That’s what he believes he’s going to try and do. It’s time for us to go on the offensive and abandon delusions about what kind of adversary we face. This is not a managed competition. This is a competition we must win. It will take more than an all-of-government approach. It will take an all-of-society approach to be able to win this. As our lead diplomat, Senator Rubio, you are in a position to set the tone. And that’s why I can’t think of a better pick to be the Secretary of State than you.

“So, first of all, do you agree that the PRC is the biggest threat that we face as the United States?”

Senator Marco Rubio: “The Communist Party of China, which leads the PRC, is the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted. They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor now, and in every realm.

“It is an extraordinary challenge. It’s one that I believe will define the 21st century. When they write the book about the 21st century, there’s going to be some chapters in there about Putin. There’s going to be some chapters in there about some of these other places. But the bulk of that book about the 21st century will be not just about China, but about the relationship between China and the United States and what direction it went. And I think you’re alluding to it in your statement. I know you may have another question. I don’t want to eat up all your time, but I do want to say this.

“The Chinese believe that the United States are a great power and in an inevitable decline, and that they are an inevitable rise. Now they’re going to be, they already are. They’re going to be a rich and powerful country, and we’re going to have to deal with them. The danger is that because of our own actions, in many cases, a dangerous imbalance has built up in that relationship. We allowed them for years to pretend that they were some developing country, so we should allow them to continue to cheat on trade and commerce. We should allow them to continue to expand.

“They lied about not militarizing and populating island chains in the South China Sea and the like, that we allowed them for years before we got serious about it, to conduct grotesque human rights violations, against Uighur Muslims as an example, one of the most horrifying things happening on the planet. And for years, no one talked about it. Which, by the way, not just has a human rights component to it, it allows them to use slave labor to produce goods that, at the expense of the rest of the world, talk about not just a horrific humanitarian crisis, but an unfair trade practice as well. We’ve allowed them to get away with things. And frankly, the Chinese did what any country in the world would do given these opportunities. They took advantage of it. And so I think now we’re dealing with the ramifications of it. I agree 100% what you said, but I remind you, and I remind everyone, I guess I want to make this point, that much of what we need to do to confront China is here at home. It’s not just abroad, it’s also here at home. We have to rebuild our domestic industrial capacity, and we have to make sure that the United States is not reliant on any single other nation for any of our critical supply chains.

Senator Ricketts: “And so, with four seconds left. How are you going to explain that to your average American, that we need this all-of-society approach? And to your point exactly, that we need, it needs to begin here at home, and so that people from my state, Nebraska, will understand and get on board?

Senator Rubio: “If we stay on the road we’re on right now, in less than ten years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not. Everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch, and everything in between. We will depend on China for it. They have come to dominate the critical mineral industry, the supplies throughout the world. Everywhere in the world, they’ve now established critical mineral rights. Even those who want to see more electric cars, no matter where you make them, those batteries are almost entirely dependent on the ability of the Chinese and the willingness of the Chinese Communist Party to produce it and export it to you. So if we don’t change course, we are going to live in a world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not. That’s an unacceptable outcome.

Senator Ricketts: “Thank you, Senator Rubio.”