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McCaul: We Can’t Make Weapons Fast Enough ‘to Protect the United States or our Allies’ and Don’t Have Deterrence in Taiwan

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On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said that “we cannot make our weapons fast enough to protect the United States or our allies,” Taiwan isn’t prepared for an invasion by China, and the U.S. doesn’t have adequate deterrence on the island.

McCaul said, “Taiwan’s not prepared for this. I signed off on weapons three years ago, Maria, that have yet to go into [the] country. We have no deterrence, we have no joint military exercises with Taiwan. They are — unlike Ukraine, they’re incapable of fighting their own war if invaded.”

He added, “When we sell an ally or somebody like Taiwan our foreign military sales…why does it take three years? Why don’t we have any weapons systems in [the] country right now to provide a deterrent to Chairman Xi from invading? Because, the fact is, we don’t. And I don’t think [Secretary of State Tony Blinken] can answer that question other than to say our defense industrial base system is broken and we can’t make these weapons fast enough.”

McCaul concluded, “[T]he fact is, we can’t make these weapons fast enough, the new ones. And I think that’s part of the problem, that, it’s a little secret in Washington, Maria, a little well-kept secret that we cannot make our weapons fast enough to protect the United States or our allies, and that’s just the truth.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

Biden signs ‘COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023’

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President Joe Biden has signed legislation that calls for declassifying any information pertaining to potential connections between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Today, I am pleased to sign into law S. 619, the ‘COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023.’ I share the Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19),” Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In 2021, I directed the Intelligence Community to use every tool at its disposal to investigate the origin of COVID-19, and that work is ongoing. We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics.

“My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID–19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In implementing this legislation, my Administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security,” Biden said.

The House passed the legislation earlier this month in a 419-0 vote.

The measure calls for the Director of National Intelligence to declassify any material pertaining to potential ties between the Chinese lab and the genesis of the pandemic, and provide Congress with an unclassified report containing that information, though the measure allows for redactions the director deems necessary to shield sources and methods.

This is supposed to include any information related to “activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army,” “coronavirus research or other related activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID–19,” and information regarding “researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019.”

It has been around three years since panic over COVID-19 erupted around the globe, leading to draconian measures like lockdowns, mask mandates, and later when vaccines became available, vaccination mandates.

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Xi Jinping in Russia: China Will ‘Stand Guard over the World Order’

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Russian leader Vladimir Putin lavished praise on visiting Chinese dictator Xi Jinping on Monday as Xi began his visit to Moscow.

While Xi’s public statements upon arrival were mostly about the growing partnership between China and Russia, Putin played his part as the junior partner in the new axis of tyranny, gushing over the Chinese leader and promising “clarification” for why Putin made things awkward for Beijing by invading Ukraine.

Reuters quoted Putin rhapsodizing over Xi’s amazing leadership qualities, and very delicately explaining why his government has not rushed to embrace the vague “peace plan” China is touting as a towering accomplishment of global diplomacy:

Russia is open to a politico-diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. However, back in April 2022, the peace talks were by no means terminated by us. The future of the peace process depends solely on the readiness for a serious conversation, taking into account the prevailing geopolitical realities.

I met Comrade Xi Jinping in March 2010, when he came to Moscow at the head of a representative Chinese delegation. Our first meeting was very businesslike and at the same time sincere and friendly. This style of communication personally impresses me deeply. I know that China attaches great importance to friendship and human relationships. It is no coincidence that the sage Confucius said: ‘Isn’t it a joy when a friend comes from afar!’ We in Russia also highly appreciate these qualities, for us a true friend is like a brother. In this, our peoples are very similar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 20, 2023. (SERGEI KARPUKHIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin sang from China’s playbook about how Western notions of human rights and international good behavior are just a scam to keep the rising authoritarian powers of the world under control:

The ‘collective West’ clings more and more desperately to archaic dogmas, to its elusive dominance, putting the fate of entire states and peoples at stake. The course pursued by the United States of dual containment of Russia and China, as well as all those who do not succumb to American dictates, is becoming more acute and assertive. The architecture of international security and cooperation is being dismantled.

The Kremlin said Putin would offer Xi “exhaustive clarifications” on Russia’s plans for Ukraine, giving the Chinese dictator a “first-hand view of the current moment from the Russian side.”

One Year Anniversary of War in Ukraine:

Volodymyr Zelensky via Storyful

This seems like a polite way for Putin to tell Xi that China’s “12-point peace plan” is not good enough to end the fighting in Ukraine. Putin claimed he has “thoroughly studied” China’s proposals and was prepared to discuss them with Xi, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov flat-out dodged questions about if China would be welcomed as a peacemaker and intermediary between Russia and Ukraine’s supporters in the West.

Peskov would say only that China is wasting its time attempting to mediate because the U.S. is “sticking to its position, which is aimed at further provoking the conflict, preventing any decrease in the intensity of hostilities and pumping weapons into Ukraine.”

The Associated Press

Destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles are on display near the St. Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko)

Xi is clearly still hoping to build on momentum from the China-brokered rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, perhaps hoping that China could cement its position as the new dominant global power by negotiating an end to Putin’s Ukraine war while the Biden administration glares sullenly from the sidelines.

Xi said when he landed in Moscow that his regime is ready to “stand guard over the world order based on international law” and “resolutely defend the U.N.-centric international system,” which seems like a hollow boast for a leader who refuses to denounce an invasion the U.N. has resoundingly condemned on several occasions over the past year.

The Associated Press

U.S. President Joe Biden, right, stands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting on November 14, 2022, in Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

It is also darkly comical for Xi to boast of his respect for “the unity of the world community’s views” when the International Criminal Court (ICC) swore out a warrant for Putin’s arrest as a war criminal three days ago — and Xi’s Russian partner not only ignored the action but opened a sham “criminal investigation” of the ICC. 

For their part, the Ukrainians have signaled a willingness to accept China at the negotiating table, perhaps even at the head seat, but only if Beijing modifies its sketchy “peace plan” to require that Russia vacates Ukrainian territory.

“The formula for the successful implementation of China’s ‘Peace Plan’. The first and main point is the capitulation or withdrawal of the Russian occupation troops,” Ukrainian national security secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Monday.

China’s Xi Jinping Arrives in Moscow for State Visit, Putin Talks

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Chinese Communist Party supremo and national leader Xi Jinping landed in Moscow on an Air China Boeing 747 on Monday afternoon, state media says, kicking off a state visit amid Ukraine war tension.

Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow Monday afternoon local time, commencing a long-discussed potential state visit to Russia by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) frontman amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, and even a presently-unenforceable arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin issued by the International Criminal Court.

The CCP leader arrived in Moscow aboard an Air China Boeing 747 and will be in the country for two days. As the Kremlin’s wire news service TASS reports, a Hongqi-made Chinese limousine was waiting for the arrival of President Xi at the airport, from where he was taken to have talks with President Putin.

The Kremlin says the talks are due to last until tomorrow, with a state spokesman saying the visit was less about pomp and pageantry, and more about talk. TASS reports the spokesman as saying: “there will be no additional protocol stuff, the main thing is negotiations, negotiations and negotiations.” Whatever is discussed, the visit is a demonstration by the Russian state that despite the Western sanctions regime, the country still has powerful allies on the world stage.

As reported ahead of the visit, Russia’s prosecution of the war in Ukraine will be a key matter of discussion, with industrial giant China even trying to portray itself as a possible broker of peace. What this peace would look like is an open question, especially given the degree to which China’s economy is being buoyed by massive imports of cheap Russian energy. Russia has benefitted from the income these sales have generated.

Preparing for this week’s summit between Xi and Putin, the Kremlin said: “I’m sure that our leader and the Chinese leader will exchange their assessments of the situation. We shall see what ideas will emerge after that. The Chinese foreign ministry said Xi would make “an objective and fair position on the Ukraine crisis and play a constructive role in promoting talks for peace.”

Ukraine itself, invaded by Russia in progressive waves over the past nine years and particularly since 2022, has rejected peace talks, with negotiation and compromise inevitably meaning a permanent loss of territory in return for a cesation of hostilities. Earlier this year, Ukraine’s Zelensky said he was not interested in talks with Russia, and Ukraine spokesmen have made clear “justice” is now a priority, with “Our tanks will be on Red Square” discussed.

China’s President Xi Jinping waves as he disembarks off his aircraft upon arrival at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on March 20, 2023. – Chinese leader arrived in Moscow on Monday saying his first state visit to Russia since the Ukraine conflict broke out would give “new momentum” to bilateral ties. (Photo by Anatoliy ZHDANOV / Kommersant Photo / AFP) / Russia OUT (Photo by ANATOLIY ZHDANOV/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty Images)

Great Reset: EU Vote to Implement Digital ID Latest Step in the ‘Chinaficaiton of Europe’ – MEP

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A European Parliament vote for bloc-wide digital IDs is the latest step towards the “Chinafication of Europe”, an MEP has claimed.

Cristian Terhes, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Christian Democratic National Peasants’ Party, has described the European Union’s latest push for cross-border digital IDs as another move towards the “Chinafication” of the bloc.

Although bureaucrats in Brussels have insisted that the measure is in the interests of average citizens, the parliament’s vote to see digital IDs adopted appears to be one of the latest attempts by EU institutions to pull power away from member-states’ national governments.

According to a report by Euractiv, the vote to see negotiations for a European Digital Identity Framework (eID) to go forward was approved by the bloc’s parliament on Thursday — though the publication describes the process as a mere formality.

Romana Jerkovic, the parliament’s rapporteur for the digital ID programme, heralded its approval of the plans, claiming that they will enable individual EU citizens to have “full control over their own data” while accessing facilities across the bloc.

Such a claim has been heavily disputed by Terhes, however, who instead sees the measure as a dangerous erosion of the rights of those living within the European Union.

“The loss of our freedoms and liberties to the Big State is normally done incrementally, but the passing of the eID Wallet is a big step towards the Chinafication of Europe,” the parliamentarian told Breitbart Europe, repeatedly warning that the measure could give authorities China-like oversight over people’s private lives.

“This Digital Wallet will allow the EU and national authorities (like the Chinese Communist Party) to have technical tools so they can know what the people are doing and to impose control,” Terhes said.

“Something similar to a Chinese style Social Credit System is now made available in the EU, because this eID Wallet is a necessary technology to its implementation,” he alleged.

The Romanian politician went on to compare the coming digital ID measure to the bloc’s system of bloc-wide COVID certificates, which were used to prevent people who had not been vaccinated, recovered from the coronavirus recently, or received a negative test for the disease from travelling to different countries.

“We have already a bad experience with the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate, which was advertised as ‘facilitating’ freedom of movement, but it was, in fact, used to restrict and control people’s movement if their status or behaviour did not please state authorities,” he explained.

At the height of the bloc’s lockdown hysteria such controls were not enough for many in Brussels, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at one point pushing for the Union to adopt a bloc-wide forced vaccination mandate requiring people to get jabbed against the disease.

“How we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union, this needs discussion,” the Commission President said in late 2021, adding that she wanted a “common approach” to the issue across the bloc.

The measure would have likely been similar to those enshrined in law by Austria, for example — although the German-speaking nation’s attempts to actually implement the policy eventually failed miserably.

Follow Peter Caddle on Twitter: @Peter_Caddle
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