FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sara Robertson (Sara.Robertson2@mail.house.gov)
Rep. Crawford sees 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress as wakeup call for the West
10/24/2022
Washington – Today, Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1) responded to the end of the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress, which solidified the control of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The Congress included formal acceptance of Xi’s third term as President, and the packing of the senior leadership of the Communist Party, and thus Chinese government, with Xi loyalists.
“The wishful thinkers and China apologists of the West are now forced again to face reality, as they have faced with China’s crushing of Hong Kong’s independence, its genocide against the Uighurs, and Xi’s siding with Vladimir Putin against basic notions of freedom and sovereignty,” said Rep. Crawford. “China is not just a dictatorship of one party, it is now a dictatorship of one man, Xi Jinping. We haven’t seen this level of dominance by one man in China since Mao Zedong, and that didn’t end so well.”
Increasing Chinese repression at home and saber-rattling abroad have been hard to miss. Xi has made clear his willingness to try to take democratic Taiwan by force; and has expressed China intends to replace America economically and militarily as the world’s foremost power. Crawford has been clear that the United States and its allies must ramp up efforts to counter this threat.
“With the Year of the Rabbit in China just a few months away, there should be a time of peace ahead,” Rep. Crawford added. “But Xi’s total consolidation of power instead points to more dangerous times.”
Crawford recently urged that China-owned ByteDance be forced to sell its TikTok unit to an American company, or to exit America, due to potential national security threats.
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