Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has expressed alarm about the strengthening ties between Moscow and Beijing.
The relationship between the two countries reached new heights in February when Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics and announced a “no limits” partnership. The move came just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“This was the beginning of the unholy alliance, where they started to talk about unlimited partnership,” McCaul told The Epoch Times on March 24 in an interview at the Republican retreat in Florida.
McCaul, leader of the House Republicans’ China Accountability task force, called the new partnership “very disturbing.”
Since the invasion, Beijing has refused to denounce Moscow’s aggression and reaffirmed that Russia is China’s “most important strategic partner.”
“I’ve been very worried that Putin has always wanted Ukraine and Chairman Xi always wanted Taiwan,” McCaul said.
Watching how Putin’s war on Ukraine unfolds and his miscalculations, however, may have a negative impact on Xi’s calculus, he noted.
President Joe Biden told the Chinese leader on March 14 that there would be “consequences” if Beijing gave material support to Russia as it attacks Ukraine. Biden’s warning came after U.S. officials said Beijing had signaled a willingness to provide military and economic aid to Russia. Both countries have denied this.
Despite U.S. warnings, Beijing is still participating in Russian propaganda and misinformation activities, and helping Moscow skirt economic sanctions, McCaul said.
“They’re very deceptive. They’re going to play the game in order to have Russia on their side in the event they decide to invade Taiwan,” he said.
Taiwan has been on high alert since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, concerned that China will follow suit.
House Republicans believe the United States should learn from the invasion of Ukraine and use those lessons to safeguard Taiwan against a Chinese attack.
During a press conference at the Republican retreat, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy identified “two biggest threats” to the United States: national debt and China. Increasing arms sales to Taiwan was one of the proposals being discussed at the retreat.
Taiwan, according to McCaul, has to improve its asymmetric warfare capabilities as its military power is disproportionate to China’s. This means investing in more anti-ship and anti-aircraft mines. In addition, the United States and its allies should deter China’s use of force in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Origins of the Virus
One of the key policy issues covered at this year’s GOP retreat was “China accountability.” If House Republicans reclaim control of the chamber in this year’s midterm elections, they promise to hold China accountable on a variety of matters, including the origins of COVID-19.When Republicans regain the majority, they'll have subpoena power to request a full investigation on COVID-19’s origins, McCaul said, criticizing Democrats’ reluctance to take actions on this matter.
“We’re not going to change the past. But it’s important, we have transparency to change the future. We don’t want this to happen again. And I do think there’s an accountability issue here,” McCaul said.
The report was translated into Chinese and was able to get across the firewall in China where it went viral, McCaul said.
The GOP investigation focused on whether the virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.
“We want to get to the bottom of what happened not to be vengeful, but we need to know the truth about what happened that has killed millions of people around the world,” McCaul said.
