OPINION:
As Americans across the country are voting, China has already chosen its ideal ticket: Vice President Kamala Harris, who has put China’s interests over Americans’, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, who faces congressional inquiries over his alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
China is doing more than making its preferences known. The Communist Party is working covertly to silence the Trump campaign and other Republican candidates who stand up to it and its attempt to influence our elections.
Recently, it was reported that “Chinese state-affiliated hackers” collected audio from the Trump campaign. Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center also reported that China was behind the dissemination of false information designed to criticize and discredit Republican candidates and officials.
It’s no secret that former President Donald Trump and Republicans realize and have cracked down on the threat of China. The Biden-Harris administration, however, may have opened the door to China further.
The Protecting America Initiative has repeatedly warned about the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to influence American politics and knows that real action against this threat will happen in state capitals nationwide. We can’t let the Community Party leaders’ plans to infiltrate our elections go unnoticed. They are after something bigger. That’s why state officials further down the ballot in particular should be aware of the threat China poses.
States have historically been leaders on the issue of combating China. From banning foreign purchases of American farmland to cracking down on Confucius Institutes in higher education to requiring further disclosure of foreign lobbying, state officials have forged a way to stop Chinese Communist Party influence in America.
Still, there is more work to be done. China is working overtime to find new ways to infiltrate American politics, and its plan to tip the scales in this election is only the beginning. As the dust settles after Nov. 5, states must take the reins and prepare a new targeted playbook to address the evolving threat of China ahead of the 2025 legislative sessions.
But how would that plan differ under a Trump or a Harris administration?
We know Mr. Trump will support states in their work to put America first and stop China’s influence. He said it himself at a recent Protecting America Initiative event with farmers focused on combating the Chinese Communist Party: Americans are being “ripped off” by China, and Mr. Trump promised to deal with the party threat on day one.
Mr. Trump understands the chaos China creates for American farmers, saying: “We’re going to protect [U.S. land]. … It’s causing a lot of disruption, and that’s what [China] wants to do.”
As president, he negotiated the groundbreaking United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade deal that put American farmers first and “provided new market access for all U.S. agricultural products, a fair nondiscriminatory pricing plan, and improved grading standards for all products,” according to his campaign. If Mr. Trump wins a second term, Americans can rest assured he will work with states to ensure our food supply is protected and not outsourced to the Chinese Communist Party.
Under a Harris-Walz administration, states can’t rely on the same leadership. China welcomes the idea of a President Kamala Harris with Tim Walz at her side.
As a senator, Ms. Harris voted to give billions to Chinese battery companies, holding the American auto industry hostage. After that vote, her administration wrote a special exception in federal rules allowing taxpayer money to flow to the Chinese Communist Party until 2027.
Not only is Ms. Harris good news for China, but her running mate has his own history regarding the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Walz is under federal investigation for his alleged ties to the party.
We can’t trust a Harris-Walz administration to stand up to China, making state leadership on this issue even more crucial.
As legislative sessions approach, state leaders must prepare strategies to combat the Chinese Communist Party that include protecting U.S. agriculture, farmland and food security; defending American political independence; promoting American jobs and protecting American industry; keeping China out of state infrastructure; maintaining independence in education; and stopping the flow of Chinese nationals and fentanyl across our border.
As Americans choose their next president and China seeks to influence our vote, states must be vigilant and address the Chinese threat directly.
• Lee Zeldin is a senior adviser to the Protecting America Initiative and a former member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ric Grenell is a senior adviser to the initiative, former ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration.
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