Vance: Wants to build an international order in which China can be controlled

Describing China as both a competitor and an adversary, Republican vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance said Sunday that his party wants to create a robust international framework in which the U.S. can “check” Beijing. “I think both are true, and I think we want to build an international order here where we can check China,” Vance said in an interview with CBS when asked if he sees Beijing as a competitor or an adversary.

“We don’t want war with China, but of course they are an adversary. The Chinese, for example, know that they are producing tons of fentanyl and they are allowing it to enter our country. (Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate) Kamala Harris has done nothing about it,” Vance said on the “Face the Nation” show.

He said Harris should put diplomatic and economic pressure on the Chinese to stop the production of fentanyl, which is smuggled into Mexican drug cartels and then shipped to the United States.

In response to a question, Vance said China needed to be warned about this.

“You go to Beijing, talk to (President) Xi Jinping and say your entire economy is going to collapse if you don’t get access to American markets. You have to take this fentanyl seriously, or we’re going to impose heavy tariffs and economic penalties on you for not following our laws and not helping us stem the flow of this deadly poison,” he said.

This is unlikely to impact the American economy, Vance said. “I think we have a strong economy with the best workers in the world. If we have to fight a trade war with the Chinese, we will fight it and win, but we cannot do what Kamala Harris has done, which is be so afraid of using our economic power that she is not even willing to stop the flow of this deadly poison into our country,” he claimed. According to the Ohio senator, former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gets along well with world leaders, and there is nothing wrong with complimenting them as people if it gives him more diplomatic effectiveness.

“If you actually have a good relationship with the people and they trust you to keep your word. We have to remember that Democrats, including Kamala Harris, attacked Donald Trump because of his good relationship with Vladimir Putin. Now, when Donald Trump was president, Vladimir Putin didn’t invade another country.

“…So maybe they should take a leaf out of Trump’s playbook on diplomatic legitimacy, because I think Donald Trump got a lot done because world leaders respected him,” Vance said.