A pro-China heckler failed in an attempt to disrupt a speech by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri on Thursday.
During a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Hawley argued that the nation’s top foreign policy priority should be deterring China from seizing Taiwan and that the best way to do that would be to stop sending assets blindly to Ukraine.
A climate protester interrupts Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) Heritage Foundation speech on China and Ukraine.
Hawley: “This administration wants to use the climate crisis as a justification for its agenda in Ukraine and elsewhere. Maybe they oughta visit with that gal.” pic.twitter.com/QcL3dTCzqn
— The Recount (@therecount) February 16, 2023
“I’m not in favor of blank checks to anybody,” he told the crowd. “So I’m not here to tell you that I don’t favor blank checks to Ukraine but I do favor them to Taiwan. No, quite the contrary. My view is we have got to help the Taiwanese defend themselves. We should be arming and supporting the Taiwanese, but on the condition that they spend on their own defense, that they embrace an asymmetric defense strategy and that they go all in on the defense of their island and prepare to defend it from any potential Chinese invasion.”
A woman walked onto the stage next to him. Unfolding a large poster that read, “People & Planet, not War & Aggression,” she began to shout over him that China is not as dangerous an enemy as climate change.
“We spend over $1 trillion every year, and the state — your state of Missouri — over half the people are in poverty,” she said as security approached her, took her by the arm and began to escort her off the stage. “China is not our enemy/ The climate crisis is! We need to be this serious about the climate crisis!”
The audience laughed as she was removed from the room, shouting over her shoulder the entire time about military spending and how she believed that money should be used to address climate change instead. Hawley quickly picked up where he had left off, piggybacking off the lone protester’s complaints to double down on his position and take a swing at the Biden administration in the process.
Following his letter to the Department of Homeland Security requesting information on China’s spy activities, Hawley announced last week he will introduce a Senate resolution to condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its blatant violation of U.S. airspace and call for transparency regarding the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.
Democrats have joined Republicans in their criticism of the administration’s lack of transparency concerning the incidents.
“China’s decision to send a surveillance balloon into U.S. airspace was a gross violation of American sovereignty and it will not be tolerated. We must send a message – and get the facts from this administration about what’s going on.”
He is also calling for universities to end their ties to China.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
