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[Page S2954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHINA
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, on Huawei, there is positive
news about an administrative action. I am in full support of what the
Commerce Department did on Huawei, and I want to give a shout-out to
Google for joining in and urge all other American companies to join as
well. The administration issued an Executive order laying the
groundwork to ban the purchase of telecommunications equipment from
China's state-controlled firms. The decision, as I said, is having an
impact because of Google. We are waiting for other companies to join
in.
For years, China has prevented great American technology companies
like Google, Facebook, and so many others from operating in China. They
put barrier after barrier in the way because we are better, and they
know American firms would capture the Chinese market. They put barriers
in the way, they steal our technology and then develop it, and then
even try to sell it back here. It has happened with computers. It has
happened with so many other things that America and American know-how
developed.
Huawei is a national security concern. It is a Chinese company that
could pry into all of us. But it is also an excellent weapon to get
China to finally start treating us fairly, which they haven't done for
30 years. We have lost tens of millions of good-paying American jobs
and trillions of dollars because of what China has done to us. I have
to say that both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past
just sat there under some guise of free trade, which wasn't free or
fair at all. And now we have some weapons.
A lot of these folks--these pundits, these critics, these editorial
writers--say tariffs is the wrong way to go. Talking is the wrong way
to go. It got us nowhere. But one other way to go is reciprocity.
China, we are going to treat some of your companies the way you treat
our companies.
That is what we did with Huawei. It was the first time I have seen
something very strong. I hope the President doesn't back off. He did
with ZTE because President Xi asked him to. The head of China asked him
to.
Don't back off, Mr. President.
This is the right thing to do, and I have been advocating for
decades. I asked President Bush and President Obama to use reciprocity
as a tool to stop China. It is another tool in our toolkit and an
effective one.
If China won't let our most productive companies compete in its
markets, we shouldn't let China's state-driven companies compete in
ours. They get subsidies from the state.
We should not give Huawei--particularly Huawei, which is a security
concern as well--free reign in the United States. China has to learn
something. It has to open up its markets if it wants access to ours.
They talk about, oh, we are an affront to China because we are asking
for fairness? Give me a break. Give me a break. We know what fairness
is.
I believe the administration's decision to put pressure on China to
reform its economic policies was very smart, and I am really glad they
did it.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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