EXCLUSIVE: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn is warning the Biden administration that China is “our adversary,” saying Beijing threatens our supply chain and urging the White House to “step up their game.”
During an exclusive interview with Fox News, Blackburn, R-Tenn., said the Biden administration needs to “show that they get it.”
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“The White House needs to step up their game, and show that China is our adversary, they are not our friend,” she said.
Blackburn attended a White House meeting Wednesday, when President Biden and Vice President Harris hosted a group of bipartisan House and Senate lawmakers to discuss supply chain issues.
The meeting came as the president signed an executive order to direct a 100-day review of supply chains in four areas – pharmaceuticals, computer chips, large capacity batteries, and critical minerals and rare earth materials.
The order also directed six sector reviews to be completed in one year focused on defense, public health and biological preparedness, information and communications technology, transportation, energy, and food production.
Intelligence and national security officials, as well as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, have warned that China poses a threat to the U.S. supply chain, but the executive order did not mention or single out China, and instead focused on other vulnerabilities.
“We are not singling out any country by name in the executive order,” one official said. “We see an effort to build strong and resilient supply chains across a range of critical products and sectors, and those vulnerabilities are capacity, single point of failure, potential for environmental disaster.”
The official added that they are “intending to look with this review and address a range of different vulnerabilities,” specifically at where the U.S. is “excessively dependent on competitor nations,” including China.
A source familiar told Fox News Thursday that during the meeting, Blackburn spoke to the president about her legislation to advance manufacturing jobs in America, and a bill she introduced last Congress, Securing Americas Medicine Cabinet 2020, which would “codify and expand the FDA’s existing emerging technologies program and facilitate the creation of new manufacturing technologies in the pharmaceutical industry.”
Blackburn’s office told Fox News that the Chinese government has “designated biotech as a priority industry” in its five-year plan and “Made in China 2025 initiative,” stressing the importance of securing the U.S. supply chain.
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The source told Fox News that the president was open to discussing Blackburn’s legislation.
“The threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party affects all Americans and transcends political parties,” Blackburn told Fox News. “President Biden has demonstrated a willingness to work across the aisle for the good of our nation, and I appreciate how receptive he was to my bipartisan legislation that will secure our pharmaceutical supply chain from China.”
She added: “It’s time for the president to put his words into action and ensure this legislation is passed.”
Meanwhile, Blackburn said there is urgency in addressing the threat China poses to U.S. supply chains and national security in general. “China is always in a rush,” Blackburn told Fox News. “China is committed to having the 21st century beat. They do not want to be party of the community of nations – they want to dominate the community of nations.”
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She added: “The sooner this administration figures that out and admits it, the better it is going to be for the American citizen.”
The president, earlier this month, spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since taking office, and outlined his “core concerns” with China’s practices, aggressive activities and abuses, administration officials told Fox News.
National security officials within the Biden administration have acknowledged that China poses one of the greatest long-term national security threats to the United States, and said the president is outlining a “strategic approach” to U.S.-China relations.
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