Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar says U.S. House won’t change approach to China under Trump

A Michigan Congressman is proposing legislation to end normal trade relations with China.

U.S Rep. John Moolenaar chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Moolenaar says fighting the security threat posed by the U.S. adversary is one of the few issues that bring Democrats and Republicans together in Congress.

Listen: U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar discusses concerns about the CCP

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar: We’re going to work to prevent the CCP from stealing our technology, co-opting businesses, harassing the American people, and pressuring us into compliance. President Trump has made some important appointments. Michael Waltz, who is the new national security advisor for the president, is very serious about addressing the threats China presents. And we look forward to closely collaborating.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: The president-elect has talked a lot about putting tariffs on various products. China officials have said that they are rushing, it seems, to get semi-conductor production up and going even more in their country. The Biden administration had pushed to make a domestic supply chain for that. What do you think the U.S. policy should be in regards to that? And do you have any fears if there are tariffs being applied that a kind of a trade war erupts between China and the U.S.?

JM: In a sense, China has been initiating a trade war with the United States for many years. They’ve been violating various trade rules and I believe it’s time that we revoked the permanent normal trade relationship status that China has enjoyed for the last two and a half decades. And because of the violations that they’ve incurred, I do believe tariffs are a very reasonable approach, specifically targeted at addressing E-sectors and areas of technology where we need to rebuild our supply chain resilience. And make sure that we are not furthering our dependence on China.

QK: One of the concerns some people have had is the use of TikTok. It also seems that now President-elect Trump seems to be kind of a fan of TikTok, which you had not seemed to be in in the past. When you look at views that you and the President have regarding that, do you see that those will be able to mesh?

JM: I do. And I think President Trump has had long standing concerns about the CCP’s control of TikTok. And in our legislation we did not ban TikTok. What we said is that TikTok needs to be severed from its owner ByteDance, which is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, and to divest from TikTok. And my hope is that President Trump will use the fact that we have a law in place now that requires that divestiture as a way to negotiate in a way that an American company may have the opportunity to take TikTok over and provide this forum in a way that would be safer for the American people and free from adversarial control.

QK: Have you had any discussions with Trump or some of his people in regards to TikTok or any of the other Chinese matters?

JM: That will be an ongoing discussion. Right now there are some issues that are being resolved in the courts. And there is a deadline of Jan. 19 where TikTok must be sold. There also is a provision where the president can delay that if negotiations are occurring in a productive way. So it gives the president a lot of flexibility to work on this and hopefully find an American buyer or at least a friendly nation — one that’s not China, Russia, North Korea or Iran.

QK: When the leader of China, President Xi Jinping, met a while back with Biden, he outlined what he was calling “red lines” in the relationship between the U.S. and China. Issues like the status with Taiwan, democracy or human rights, China’s own system and what he called China’s rights to development. When you look at those red lines, what’s your view of how he sets that out?

JM: It’s interesting how he frames things. He will talk about Taiwan as something where he feels they have a legitimate right to take over Taiwan by force if necessary. We view that very differently. Taiwan is a free island nation, a Democratic free island that is a huge part of the world economy. And the idea that Xi Jinping thinks he can just take it over to me is a very dangerous provocation on his part. They have promised in the past things like in Hong Kong, that they would have one China but two systems. But political dissenters have been thrown into prison; Jimmy Lai, who is someone from the media who spoke out for democracy, is in prison. So they are putting their political adversaries in prison. It’s very difficult to view what Xi Jinping says as having integrity. So my goal would be to do everything we can to deter aggression with respect to Taiwan. And also make sure that we keep the rule of law, the status quo, in the South China Sea and other areas where China is threatening our allies like the Philippines and Japan. Make sure that they don’t continue to instigate further destruction.

QK: Trump has said in regards to Taiwan that he thinks the country should pay the U.S. for helping provide its defense. What’s your view of that?

JM: Well, again, President Trump is a strong negotiator. I think there’s very strong agreement that Taiwan needs to strengthen its force, its defenses, and its posture to help protect itself from aggression from mainland China. President Reagan talked about “Peace through strength,” and I believe we must display American strength when it comes to our relationship with China. A big part of that is arming Taiwan so that they can defend themselves and that Xi Jinping realizes it is a very unattractive option for him to try and take Taiwan by force. I think what President Trump is doing, similar to what he did with NATO allies, is encourage them to participate more in funding their own defense. And we can be part of that by selling them arms, by helping them equip themselves. But they really need to step up their game. And they are. I’m encouraged by the progress they’re making.