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March 26, 2025 - Epoch Times

22:32

Why China is More Dangerous Than Russia: Rep. Rich McCormick

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	They're not the same as Russia.
	They're much more dangerous.
	The way they've cheated since they joined the World Trade Organization about 20 years ago, by stealing secrets, by subverting everything that's good in the United States.
	Congressman Rich McCormick sees communist China as America's greatest external threat.
	We now are in a new evolution of warfare where we're heavily reliant on technologies.
	This has changed conventional warfare forever.
	He's a decorated veteran who served over 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.
	As a helicopter pilot and a Marine Corps officer.
	As a lawmaker, he has co-sponsored legislation to challenge the CCP's rampant economic espionage and tech influence campaigns.
	And a resolution to formally recognize Taiwan.
	Before taking office, he was an emergency room physician and treated COVID-19 patients.
	The trouble is when the government starts to define what's truth and what's moral and what's right, they can use any emergency to take control of your life.
	I was labeled as a quack or as somebody who should be removed from my licensing because what I said wasn't the same as the government.
	This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Janje Kellek.
	Congressman Rich McCormick, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.
	It's great to be with you today.
	Thanks for having me.
	So recently, three U.S. Army soldiers were indicted for spying for the CCP, for the Chinese Communist Party.
	What's your reaction?
	We've had this problem in the past with Russia.
	You can see we have a new peer adversary.
	China has taken the place of Russia as our greatest adversary, our greatest threat.
	They're on par with us militarily.
	They have a greater population.
	They're closing the gap with us on GDP.
	So, in other words, as an economic power, much more powerful than Russia ever was.
	When you make the side-by-side comparisons, we used to be worried about Russia.
	Remember, we were competing with them.
	And we used to have Reagan talk about Russia and the USSR.
	Collectively, the USSR was never on par with us.
	They didn't have the ability to have an economic powerhouse like China does.
	They didn't have the military that could actually match up with us like China does.
	If you look at the GDPs comparatively, Russia has a GDP roughly the size of Texas by itself.
	$2 trillion.
	To compare that to Europe, which has about a $20 trillion economy, compared to the United States, which has a $27 trillion economy.
	This whole idea that Russia can invade Ukraine and not lose drastically.
	It's ridiculous.
	I mean, combined, we have a $47 trillion economy.
	Now, I understand that Ukraine has about one-fifth the population, about one-twentieth the economy, but when supported by two great forces, we should be able to deal with Russia in short order, not just militarily, but economically, make it very difficult for them to proceed in this war.
	In the same way with China.
	They're not the same as Russia.
	They're much more dangerous.
	The way they've cheated since they joined the World Trade Organization about 20 years ago, by tripling their economy, by stealing secrets, by subverting everything that's good in the United States, it's just manifested in this new spy rig.
	We used to do this with Russia all the time.
	Now China's our main enemy.
	We should be wary that, first of all, it's not just those service members that should be prosecuted, but China.
	Should also be punished for what they've done.
	Oh, that's very interesting.
	I mean, let's look at a few other things.
	Recently, there were 12 hackers that were indicted for work over something like at least a seven-year period against Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Commerce, us, the Epoch Times, multiple, and they're still at large from what we know.
	And that's the hard thing to do.
	We have some really neat cybersecurity going on right now.
	I'm actually on the Cybersecurity Subcommittee in Armed Services.
	I also was on the AI Task Force.
	Watching a Marine.
	With a computer, actually go to war.
	It's really cool.
	When I was growing up, I didn't even have a computer.
	When I went to college the entire time with no computer, learned how to use a computer in the Marine Corps, which is a dangerous thing.
	But now we have these guys who are cybersecurity experts.
	Marines who literally go to war with foreign adversaries and take down cells.
	I think it's really cool, but...
	This is a dangerous place.
	We're going to have quantum technologies come online.
	We're having developed AI.
	You can see what China did in that arena recently making it very cheap.
	It's not better, but it's cheaper, and it's going to revolutionize the way we do production on AI and AI chips.
	But they are, once again, not friendly to us.
	These guys are trying to do us harm.
	You know, DeepSeek being available on, you know, I don't know how many Americans have downloaded that onto their phones.
	Do you see an issue with that?
	Heck yeah.
	Think about what they're putting on their phones, just like TikTok.
	They can track where you are, what you do, what you get online with.
	The reason we got rid of TikTok is not only...
	Collect valuable information from your personal information, but it also tries to influence you.
	It guides you to whatever their truth is.
	They're going to try to control the truth, confuse us, confound the issues, and deceive the American public on what the truth is.
	But, Congressman, on the question of TikTok, the jury seems still out.
	So that's confounding to me, too.
	I'll say we made a law.
	The Senate confirmed this.
	The president signed it into law.
	I don't care if it's Biden, Trump, anybody.
	We made a law.
	We did it for a reason, because TikTok is not a good actor.
	It's owned and essentially influenced by the CCP to influence our children.
	Not to become scientists, not to educate us, but to make them into influencers.
	Influencers based on what standard?
	On anybody who supports a Chinese agenda.
	And not just Chinese, I'm talking about the CCP agenda.
	So if you want to be an influencer, you have to agree with their defaults.
	Which means that you're an influencer now for the CCP.
	Shame on us for doing anything that would support that.
	Now, I get it.
	It could be useful to President Trump.
	But you know what?
	Not without a cost.
	And to me, this isn't about a president.
	This isn't about the influence of one person.
	It's about an influence of a very bad actor that owns the TikTok brand.
	And that is the CCP.
	We need to get away from it and get away from it fast.
	And we need to make laws that are more comprehensive to keep them from coming up with other.
	Well, to your point, Congressman, you know, people argue that Deepsea could be all that much more influential even than something like TikTok, assuming it's used at the same scale.
	Absolutely. Because it's not just about advertising.
	It's just not about entertainment.
	You actually go there as a reference.
	And when they can control what the truth is, when they can say, oh no, this is reference material, this is what's true, now all of a sudden you warp the truth.
	And the truth, I've always said, truth is what sets you free, right?
	When you can have a discussion about what's right and what's wrong, what's truthful and what's not, whether it be philosophical, legal, scientific, you control the populace.
	And that's how communists rule, is they deceive you from the truth.
	And when they deceive you from the truth, you make bad decisions.
	One of the things I noticed is that you were actually practicing medicine during COVID and you were doing types of treatments that were not, according to the, you know, sort of official requirements and narratives yet, were very valuable to many people.
	You probably saved at least a few people's lives along the way.
	So we need to have kind of a menu because there's no one person that can decide.
	I guess, how do you view that?
	Well, that's when I went to war with Fauci.
	If anybody's seen, you know, look it up.
	McCormick versus Fauci in the hearings.
	He literally said in interviews, if you don't do what the government says is right, that sounds very communist, by the way, then we will close your business.
	We'll make it difficult for you to have a business.
	We'll make it difficult for you to get an education, for you to travel, for you to be anything.
	And that's when government takes control.
	They can use any emergency to take control of your life, and then they become the standard bearer of science, of health, of truth, of morality.
	And the trouble is when the government starts to define what's truth and what's moral and what's right, then they get to control your business.
	Who you hire, who you fire, how you invest your money.
	I mean, this just happened recently where they decided if you're not part of the green movement, then you should be divested from as an investor.
	And it hurt people who are investing even their life savings in.
	If you don't invest in what the government says is truth, we'll disband you.
	We'll get you out of medicine.
	We'll take away your credentials, which they tried to do with me.
	Because I challenged their whole premise on wearing masks or getting vaccinations, not because I was anti-scientific.
	As a matter of fact, everything that I said turned out to be true.
	But I was labeled as a quack or as somebody who should be removed from my licensing because what I said wasn't the same as the government.
	Why does some guy in the government, who doesn't even treat patients, Who's not even there on the front lines developing the technologies, developing the treatments that work the best based on scientific research, on application, real-world application.
	Why am I not the expert?
	Instead, they said, no, I was a doctor 20 years ago, but I'm in government now.
	I decide what's the truth.
	If I say the government should make you get a vaccination, then by God, you better do it or I'll make your life miserable.
	That's what that whole debate between me and Fauci was about, and we expose who he was.
	And guess what?
	He also made a lot of money off of that, and that's wrong.
	And so we wanted to expose all that, and I'm glad we did.
	And I think the fact that Biden pardoned him before we even charged him tells you everything you need to know.
	I mean, I think that's egregious, and I hate to see that because now we have no accountability.
	So, Congressman, going back to TikTok and algorithms, I think the crucial issue is sort of who controls the algorithm.
	But in the end, isn't it true that whoever does control the algorithm kind of controls the truth?
	Don't they?
	I mean, what's your thought?
	Fact. That's exactly what I'm fighting against.
	I want to make sure that it's not contrived by CCP, that they don't get to tell us based on their cheap algorithm that, let's say, the majority of Americans start using this cheap AI, which is not better.
	It's just cheaper.
	Now, it doesn't cost me anything to download.
	And to jump in, I've had experts on who tell me that that is also a subterfuge, that it's not actually cheaper.
	This is just what they sold conveniently to my...
	I'm still...
	The jury's out for me on that.
	I'm still figuring that out.
	Well, the fact of the matter is it doesn't cost you any money to download some other chat GPT or whatever.
	I'm not here to advertise anybody, but the fact is we have plenty of American-designed technologies that are superior.
	And what the cost is, nothing to anybody, to the average consumer.
	You're not costing yourself more money by using a different venue.
	This is just advertisement by the Chinese government trying to come up with some contrived idea that their product is better.
	It's not.
	It's inferior, actually, because it's controlled by a government.
	You don't want a government to control the truth.
	You don't want a government to control the message.
	You don't want a government to guide you to where you're going.
	You want the truth.
	That's what this is supposed to be.
	AI is supposed to take you to where the best information, the most useful information is.
	It should be contrived based on usefulness and truthfulness, not on something that's going to benefit a foreign national adversarial government.
	And, Congressman, just one quick sec.
	We're going to take a break, and we'll be right back, folks.
	And we're back with U.S. Congressman for Georgia, Rich McCormick.
	So recently, actually because of our Deepak Times, because of our own investigation, X took down a whole bunch of these basically fake accounts that were boosting New York Times hit pieces against Shen Yun, which you saw recently as well, as I understand it.
	Combined with, you know, bomb threats at Kennedy Center just before you actually attended and bomb threats in many other American cities.
	How do you view this?
	Well, when you think about why would they even worry about something that's basically entertainment, because it tells a story.
	Anybody who's been to that dance, that entertainment, realizes there's a story of the culture that existed before there was communism, before there was control of the people, when you had to rely on communities.
	On a tradition.
	All the things that we as people vest our heritage in.
	It's threatening to their government when a community gets to self-determine.
	When you're relying on family or spirituality.
	That's kind of what the whole dance is about.
	The whole, as you watch it play out.
	And by the way, some beautiful dancing there.
	Some beautiful special effects.
	Tell the story about these relationships that develop and how the culture is rich and beautiful.
	Has nothing to do with the government.
	It's not about the government.
	What does the CCP want?
	They want things that enforce their power, that they're the saviors, not a community, not a divineness, not a human spirit, but that the government's what's all-powerful, and that's why they're threatened by this.
	Because you notice that any government that wants to be in power, whether it be a dictatorship, a monarchy, or whatever it is, they have to defeat the religion first or make sure the religion's in step with their rule, because otherwise it threatens their rule.
	When God can be more powerful than them, they don't want it.
	They want the government to supplant morality created by religion.
	They want the authority to be supplanted by government, not by religion, not by family, not by community, not by church, but by government.
	Government becomes the end-all, be-all to all answers.
	And we're having a problem with that in the United States right now.
	People keep on saying, well, I need to turn to the government to solve my problems.
	So you've given up on your family.
	You've given up on your community.
	You've given up on the community that you're...
	Born in Riordan, that you don't want that to solve the problem.
	You want the government to be your answer.
	And that's, I wouldn't say it's just lazy, it's actually very dangerous.
	Because once you give up power to a government to solve your problems, now they have say-so over you.
	Just like if I'm going to pay for your college, guess what?
	I have control over your life.
	Whether I be a government or a parent.
	I always said to my sons, if you can pay for your college, guess what?
	You can make all your decisions.
	Now, let's talk about Taiwan.
	I think you've argued that the U.S. should officially say, yes, Taiwan is its own country.
	And there's traditionally been a lot of ambiguity.
	There's this policy of strategic ambiguity around this issue, even though obviously Taiwan has been its own country for a very long time.
	So why would you argue to do that now, to make it explicit?
	The same reason that Trump Went out on a limb and recognized Israel and Jerusalem as the capital and did the things that he needed to do to shore up somebody who's a friend, somebody who's an ally.
	Taiwan is strategically important to us, not just because they produce all those great chips at TSMC, but because of that strategic location, that geographic location, where those straits where 70% of the world's traded wealth goes through every year, where 70% of the world's population is centered around that geographical area.
	And what it means to us to make sure that that country remains independent.
	Why not pick a winner and a loser?
	Why not stand up to them?
	This is why I believe in a strong military.
	And deterrence.
	Because it's very hard.
	I mean, as much as I think China is powerful and on a peer relationship, and I don't want to have a nuclear war, I want to have a deterrence so that they realize that an amphibious assault.
	Take it from a Marine.
	It's not an easy thing to do.
	When you have a giant island like that who's well-prepared, that is a bristling defense, and you could really hurt yourself financially and strategically, economically, and any other way.
	I want to make sure that the quad is strong, that we have Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, all on the same team, not to mention South Korea.
	I want to make sure that China has a bunch of people in that area that make sure that they feel like, you know, if I do something out of line...
	That doesn't fit with the worldview of peace and prosperity?
	Then I'm going to be punished for it.
	I want them to feel that.
	Economically, it would be a huge hit on them.
	If they do that, they're going to have permanent sanctions until they reverse course.
	I want to make sure that militarily, they suffer dramatic casualties by invading an otherwise peaceful country that's been independent from them since the beginning of their existence.
	Since the Chinese government was established, Taiwan was established at the same time.
	Why do you think you have...
	That's not logical thinking.
	We realize that.
	It doesn't mean that Taiwan can't exist and have a lot of prosperity independently without being recognized.
	And I would say the same thing to people in Gaza, by the way.
	You don't have to be recognized as a country to be prosperous.
	Look at Taiwan.
	But if Taiwan's taken over by China and look at what happened in Hong Kong, that's just a microcosm of what would happen to Taiwan.
	Plus the devastation of a military attack there.
	Who knows how many people would die?
	How many businesses would be forever changed?
	There would be no profitability anymore.
	And they would control your destiny from that point on, just like they do with everywhere else in China.
	You know, you actually co-sponsored, it's the Economic Espionage Prevention Act, along with Chairman Molinar from the CCP Committee.
	And I wanted to talk a little bit about that.
	Obviously highly relevant to this issue we just discussed, but you did this in the previous Congress.
	You're reintroducing it now.
	It didn't make it.
	What's in there?
	What's important there?
	Well, so when we look at how Russia's propagated this war...
	And what they've done, we now are in a new evolution of warfare where we're heavily reliant on technologies.
	This has changed conventional warfare forever.
	Now, we still have nuclear war to worry about.
	I'm very concerned with that.
	Anybody who looks at the mutual annihilation of what happens if there's any sort of nuclear launch, we don't want it.
	Mutual is your destruction.
	That's right.
	And that's been always the preventative measure.
	We've never had two nuclear powers fight each other, ever.
	It just hasn't happened.
	We've had these proxy wars, whether it be through Iraq.
	Vietnam, Korea, you name it.
	We've had lots of proxy wars, but we've never had direct intervention between two nuclear powers because of that fear, actually.
	So it comes back to conventional warfare.
	When conventional warfare now has evolved with this AI technology, with these chips that are involved in these drones, look at what happened to the Black Sea.
	Look at how ships are basically driven off by drones, by missile systems that are controlled by new technologies.
	Russia has had this huge uptick, over doubled their chip.
	Consumptions. And where has it been provided from?
	China and its proxies.
	We control AI.
	We control the chip industry.
	We should be punishing people, and that's what the Espionage Act is all about, is punishing those bad actors who are pass-throughs from China or anybody else for those technologies that are funding the war.
	This is a problem I have.
	I don't care if it's India.
	I don't care if it's anybody who should be our friend.
	Who's funding or supplying Russia with either funds or technologies that propagate this war?
	We should make it very, very difficult on not only Russia, but all those bad actors who are supporting Russia in those ways.
	So, out of curiosity, President Trump seems to be very set on coming up with a peaceful solution between Russia and Ukraine.
	How do you view that?
	Well, it'd be great if he can bring people to the table.
	I mean, I think nobody's going to be happy with whatever that...
	Compromise is, and that's usually the best compromise, right?
	Mediation, anybody who's been through a divorce understands that nobody's happy at the end.
	Everybody feels like they've kind of got a bad deal, and that means you've got a reasonable deal.
	Now, I happen to think that Russia's the bad actor here.
	They invaded a peaceful country, a border that's been established long before most of us were around.
	In 1994, when they left the USSR, we promised them that we'd protect them.
	In the Budapest Accords, in which they gave up their nuclear arms, I think it's a bad precedence to say that in the future, anybody who gives up their nuclear arms won't be protected because look what we just did.
	You give your word, you keep it.
	I always told my sons if they went up for sport, I get it, you may not like it, but you gave your word, you're sticking from that whole season because you gave your word.
	This is basic stuff we teach our kids.
	If you make a promise, you fulfill it.
	Russia invaded that country.
	A country that voted by, I think, about 90%.
	Who votes 90% on any issue?
	They voted by about 90% to leave the USSR.
	You could say, oh, this part of the country likes their Russian-speaking.
	They like Russian more.
	But you could say the same thing about parts of the United States.
	A large portion of the community speaks Spanish, and they're from Mexico.
	Does that mean we give them back to Mexico?
	Because they want to?
	Or do you say, no, we don't do that.
	We had a civil war over these sort of things where we decided that just because you think differently from me doesn't mean you can just leave me.
	I know that some people want Texas to peel off and some people want California to peel off.
	You can state the pros and cons of that, but quite frankly, Ukraine has the right to self-determine.
	And I hate that Russia get their way in any way, shape, or form because they're bad actors.
	They're not for the United States.
	They're not friends.
	But President Trump has been...
	Really good at foreign policy, brilliantly.
	As a matter of fact, I've been very impressed by what he's been able to accomplish so far.
	I think the Abraham Accords were worthy of probably a Nobel Peace Prize, a lot more so than anything Obama received it for.
	He actually created lasting peace in that region like nobody else has in the past.
	I thought it was amazing.
	And I hope he can do something similar in this Peace Accords where he comes to some conclusion where we establish.
	Something that's going to benefit the United States and Ukraine simultaneously and ties closer together, both economically and militarily.
	Well, Congressman McCormick, a final thought as we finish?
	One team, one fight.
	I think the thing that the United States represents very well is that we epitomize freedom.
	It's imperfect.
	We make mistakes along the way.
	But as long as the people control their own destiny, that it's not the government deciding what's right and wrong for you.
	Deciding what's moral for you.
	Deciding what you do with your business.
	As long as we protect those individual freedoms, we'll continue to be the shining light and the prosperous nation that we've always been.
	And we'll set the pace for everybody else.
	And if I may comment just very briefly, you know, I think the testament to that is, you know, despite all the, say, warts and all, right, all the kind of problems, most of the world still kind of agrees with what you just said, which is why they would like to come here.
	I think so.
	And I think people...
	The famous saying is, democracy is the worst kind of government, except for every other kind.
	It's frustrating, it's slow, but it's at least representative.
	Well, Congressman McCormick, it's such a pleasure to have had you on.
	Likewise. Always a pleasure to be with you.
	Thank you all for joining Congressman Rich McCormick and me on this episode of American Thought Leaders.

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