U.S. Rep. Rogers: China remains ‘the long-term threat for this country’

With much of the world focused on Afghanistan and what has come to be a debacle of a U.S. withdrawal from the Asian nation, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) says China remains the “long-term threat” to the United States.

Rogers, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, argues the immediate threats include the turmoil in Afghanistan and Russia’s saber-rattling in Eastern Europe but insists China is a long-term problem for national security.

During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Alabama’s third congressional district representative explained why China was a hostile adversary.

“China is a long-term threat for this country,” he said. “We’ve got immediate threats. Right now, we’ve got this threat in Afghanistan we’re having to deal with. We’ve got immediate concerns in Eastern Europe — Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and threatening the Baltics. But the long-term adversary that we have to stay focused on is China. They are not our friend. They are a hostile adversary. And we have got to free ourselves of any kind of [dependence on them] for anything because they are not our friend.”

Rogers said an effort was underway in the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act to extricate the Department of Defense from any dependency on manufacturing in Mainland China.

“I can tell you on a bipartisan basis on the Armed Services Committee, we are starting with this year’s National Defense Authorization Act to get them completely out of the supply chain for anything the Defense Department buys,” he continued. “We are going to be successful. It is going to take us a few years to get completed. But our position is if you’re a company out there and you sell something to us in the Defense Department, then you better get China out of your supply chain. If you don’t, we’re not going to buy it, and we don’t want to hear you whining.”

“We’re serious about it,” Rogers added. “And I want everybody to know China is a threat to this country, and we’ve got to disassociate ourselves to every extent possible. I’m not saying we don’t sell things to them, but we need to be responsible and make sure we are not staying dependent on them as we have been in recent years for so many things — from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals and such. We just cannot allow that to continue.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.