[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2520-S2521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 China

  Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, I had not planned to make a floor speech 
right now, but I wanted to commend you on both your legislation and on 
an important point that I think you enumerated both for this body and 
for the Americans watching.
  First of all, good piece of legislation. I supported it. I wanted it 
to move out of the Banking Committee and get to the floor. It is 
important legislation. Congratulations, and thanks for your leadership.
  Second of all, as you began your speech, you distinguished between 
the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party. I think many of us 
are worried that the No. 1 long-term national security threat this 
country faces is the technology race with the Chinese Communist Party 
and the way that they use fake private sector companies to steal from 
U.S. public and private sector entities.
  When we talk about the problems--those of us who would consider 
ourselves China hawks--we regularly end up using a shorthand, 
``China,'' when we have all spent a lot of time in the SCIF and in 
private, and we know we mean the Chinese Communist Party, but we don't 
always adequately qualify that for people who may be entering the 
debate or new to the debate or looking to politicize the debate.
  So I think it was very important, the points that you made that our 
enemy here is not the 1.4 billion Chinese people; our opponent here is 
the Chinese Communist Party, which is only about 90 million people--6 
or 7 percent of the population--and even a lot of those people don't 
actually believe Communist propaganda and nonsense about the fact that 
so many of their people and people beyond their borders are not 
perceived by the Chinese Communist Party as actually having dignity. 
Some people just join the party because they need to for local 
reasons--to get ahead or to maintain their property or their entities.
  So the Chinese Communist Party is a tiny subset of what is happening 
in China, and our battle, our fight, our problems are not with the 
Chinese people; they are with the Chinese Communist Party.
  One of the ways I learned this lesson was by having used a shorthand 
for

[[Page S2521]]

Vladimir Putin a few times in the past, and I said ``Russia'' when I 
meant ``Vladimir Putin.''
  I think the American people stand interested not just in the future 
of the Chinese people but also of the Russian people, and both these 
countries are led by some really bad actors.
  One time I made a speech here on the floor about some of the terrible 
things Vladimir Putin was doing to oppress his people and to meddle in 
our election and other elections.
  After the speech, which I thought covered the points I needed to 
cover, Gary Kasparov, the former world chess champion, came and said: 
Can I talk to you?
  We went to lunch, and he said: If you actually want to fight against 
Vladimir Putin--because freedom-loving people in the United States and 
in Russia should be opposed to Vladimir Putin--it would be helpful that 
you not, in disparaging Vladimir Putin, say a whole bunch of bad stuff 
about the word ``Russia'' and you accidentally--he said to me--referred 
to our problem as ``Russia'' when you meant ``Putin.''
  I think I have learned that lesson with regard to Russia, but I think 
a lot of us around here don't always sufficiently distinguish between 
China and the Chinese Communist Party.
  So I just wanted to affirm and underscore your message--not just good 
legislation that is good for Americans, is good for investors in the 
United States and abroad, is good for a level playing field, but as we 
oppose the bad actions of the Chinese Communist Party--their 
intellectual property theft and their manipulation of currency and 
numbers and public health data and on and on and on--our opponent is 
not the Chinese people, and we should say that both so the American 
people understand it and so that the Chinese people understand it. So I 
commend you on the way you introduced your legislation today.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. McSally). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise today to engage in a colloquy 
with Senators Cassidy, Collins, and my fellow Senator from New Jersey, 
Senator Booker, and I ask unanimous consent that they be acknowledged 
in that order and that they be allowed to complete their remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.