Republican Chairman of House China Committee Bucks Party Skeptics on Ukraine: Putin and Xi Have Formed ‘Alliance’ Against West

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), chairman of Congress’s select committee on competition with China, delivered an implicit rebuke of those arguing that support for Ukraine represents a distraction from countermanding Chinese aggression on The Story With Martha MacCallum Wednesday.

“Increasingly its evident that Xi Jinping is turning [Vladimir] Putin into his junior partner,” observed Gallagher.

“This is a de facto alliance being built against the West,” he said, accusing the two powers of having a “shared interest in undermining America and waging Cold War against the West.”

MacCallum noted that China was watching the US response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine carefully and that a Chinese diplomat recently acknowledged that there is a “comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and China,” promising that the two countries “will not be overwhelmed by coercion or pressure from third parties.”

Gallagher argued that “though they may talk vaguely about a third party, it’s clear that America is the target here,” imploring his countrymen to recognize “connection” between Russian and Chinese ambitions.

“I was struck in my trip to Taiwan at how many Taiwanese leaders brought up the invasion of Ukraine as a wake-up call,” said Gallagher, who added that “the time to arm Taiwan to the teeth was yesterday.”

While Gallagher contended there is a strong strategic link between the United States’ Russia and China policies, others in his party have portrayed an aggressive approach to the former as an impediment to the latter.

Ohio senator J.D. Vance, for example, has said that the military aid that the US has sent to Ukraine has put the country at a strategic disadvantage “if we have to fight a war against China.”

“That’s what worries me, is that the focus on Russia comes at the expense of China,” added Vance.

In a speech delivered last week, Senator Josh Hawley (R-OH) all but called Gallagher’s argument absurd, condemning those “telling us that defending Ukraine is basically the same thing as deterring China” as being guilty of “magical thinking.”

“The Chinese Communist Party understands that if our resources are tied up in Ukraine, those are resources we can’t use to deter a Taiwan invasion,” said Hawley.

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