The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, (D-IL), Is Interviewed About China
Interview
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You're absolutely right. There are so many issues, and if you talk to Mike or my constituents, a lot of them have their own concerns about each of those issues. But you know, one of the issues that we're probably going to talk about tonight is the economic issues and the trade issues that have ended up hollowing out the manufacturing sectors in the heartland, whether it's Wisconsin or Illinois or other places because of unfair trade practices, because of industrial espionage, because of forced technology transfer that many of our small and other businesses must engage in in order to sue business in the People's Republic of China. So, I think that's going to be top of mind as well.
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Well, I think that what we're saying is we don't want it to be under the control of an adversarial regime. So, for instance, if there were a forced sale of TikTok USA to some other company, for instance, an American company, I think that people would be much more comfortable, because at the end of the day, you know, folks are obviously already exercised about social media. Certainly in my household, we're not super happy about this, but to have user data and then algorithms and content ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party is a bridge too far. And I think that is the issue that we have to confront with regard to TikTok and ByteDance.
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Well, thank you.
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Well, I think that the -- it's a nuanced conversation or it should be because we want to make sure that at the same time that we make our differences known with the Chinese Communist Party, that we set aside the people of China or people of Chinese origin or Asian Americans because we don't want to, in any way, encourage the stereotyping or discrimination or tropism that often infects our conversations with regard to the People's Republic of China.
And certainly in the last four years, let's say, there's been a rise of hate crime toward Asian Americans and we don't want to contribute to that. So, it's very clear that on this committee, I think Mike and I agree our quarrel is not with the people of China or Chinese origin people, we need to stand up to the threats or challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
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Thanks, Jake.
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