A NEW Look at the United Kingdom |
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The Coronavirus crisis we face has in many ways opened the world’s eyes to the malevolence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and strengthened a growing bipartisan consensus on the national security threats this regime poses. And once the dust settles, Congress looks poised to take a number of actions that will re-evaluate our relationship with China, from bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the U.S., to examining other areas of overreliance on the country. But is this bipartisan shift unique to the U.S., or are our Western allies also waking up to this threat as well? What will the global landscape look like once this pandemic ends, and how have other countries around the world responded to this crisis?
To explore these questions, Rep. Gallagher is joined by Tom Tugendhat, a British Member of Parliament and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, on this week’s NEW Look podcast. Despite being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Tom’s an incredibly smart guy and someone who has been thinking thoughtfully on how the United Kingdom can reassess its relationship with China and what Western alliances can do to protect democracies today and in the future. But the two don’t just talk about geopolitics — Tom also teaches Mike a few things about British politics and cricket, all while ensuring his daughter Beatrice is able to watch “Shaun the Sheep.” Watch the full interview HERE or see highlights below.
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On the Threats Posed by the CCP |
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M.P. Tugendhat: "China does have a legitimate right to say, look, these rules were written before our rise, and therefore we have a right to have a voice in how they're changing. And I accept that. What I don't accept is that means that we have to bow to China's rules -- that I don't accept at all. And that, sadly, is what we're seeing. And that's why things like the theft of intellectual property that we've seen undermining so much of the WTO or the sea-steading that we're seeing undermine the UN Law of the Sea...the disinformation that we're now seeing going through the WHO, you know, undermining these organizations is making it harder and harder and harder for those of us who are trying to maintain the open system of prosperity and free trade that let's not kid ourselves has made China rich...And this response to the Coronavirus is not a one off. This is entirely in keeping with a pattern of disinformation of seeking tactical opportunity rather than strategic gain and indeed, utter callousness with the lives of their own people, let alone ours."
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On the U.K.'s Response to the Coronavirus |
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M.P. Tugendhat: "There's been a pretty clear switch, and the switch has come because the data coming out of Italy that was analyzed by Imperial College has made it pretty clear that the implications for a herd immunity strategy are pretty severe. As in an awful lot more dead than frankly anybody would like to see, and it would have overwhelmed our National Health Service. Now that not just morally would be very difficult to deal with but politically would have been suicidal. So quite reasonably the Prime Minister saw the implications and reset."
Rep. Gallagher: "Quick ask on that is the issue that as I understand it, you know, even those who could develop an immunity and are younger and healthier, it's difficult to get them to fully segregate from the more vulnerable population. So you end up getting the spread to the people that you don't want to have it spread to anyways."
M.P. Tugendhat: "Exactly, so if you want to maintain a sort of a shielded part of the community, you can't do it because you're getting too much natural spread. And that's what we've moved away from. So the reality is what we're now doing is effectively stopping people traveling as much as possible, I mean, we're not, you know, we're not quite in the full Chinese lockdown where people are being welded into their homes, but where we are, you know, restricting travel as much as possible. So you can go shopping if you need to, but if you go to a shop and now queuing outside most shops, so that what they do is they restrict the number of people in a shop to try and maintain a sort of two meter distance. And then of course, you know, you've got to maintain personal hygiene levels. So, you know, washing your hands frequently, making sure that you try touch your face as little as possible."
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On CCP Disinformation in the U.K. |
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Rep. Gallagher: "It's interesting. We have the Imperial College study that's got a lot of attention. We have other articles that are by non epidemiologists that have gone viral with apocalyptic projections. We've had Stanford professors and other credible voices not denying Coronavirus, but saying these models may be off. And then all of this is filtered through just the black hole that is social media, combined with active Chinese Communist Party propaganda that useful idiots in our media, and perhaps yours too, are parroting. Talk to us a little bit. What is the frustration around the lack of available evidence in the UK? And how is Chinese propaganda playing a role in that disinformation?"
M.P. Tugendhat: "...This Chinese communist propaganda is not actually designed to affect you -- it's not it's not trying to make you think that the US military was responsible. You know it wasn't. It's not designed to make me think the US military was responsible. I know, it wasn't. It's designed to make countries around the world, who have very different systems, really question where to turn for the next piece of advice. And this has two effects. The first effect, of course, is an immediate one. Which is if we are going to close down this virus, if we are going to get on top of it and get ahead of it, then what we've got to do is we've got to have a global response. And if there are countries around the world that are not responding in a logical, scientifically based manner, then what they're actually doing is they're creating a further reservoir for us to get reinfected later...The second effect that it has, of course, is that it's intended to shape the world afterwards. If what you're trying to do is see this Coronavirus event as a pivotal moment in modern global history -- which I think it will be and I suspect the economic implications at the very least will make it a major event bigger even than the financial crisis of 2007-2008 -- then what you're trying to do is you're trying to shape the world afterwards. And that's what the Chinese Government is trying to do. They're trying to turn countries that have previously, up to a point, seen the prosperity brought by things like the World Trade Organization, by international free trade, by partnerships with open economies like ours, as in fact, a bad thing. And that what they should instead do is kowtow to a form of mercantile colonialism that that is beginning to spread out of Beijing."
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Advice for Students in Northeast Wisconsin (and West Kent) |
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M.P. Tugendhat: "Do anything else first. Serve your country, find out who you are, find out about your community before you decide to represent it. Now that may not be joining the military as we did, but it could be starting a business, working in medicine, working in a care home, you know, doing anything else first. Make sure you know the community before you try and represent it. Because once you're in post, it's too late to learn. You keep trying to learn, but actually you don't have time, so you're constantly falling back on experiences from before you were elected. I'm sure that you find that the same is true for you. You're constantly, for you, flying between Wisconsin and Washington. You're on the road the whole time, you're calling people the whole time, you're trying to strike, you know, the best deal you can for the folks you represent the whole time. You just don't have time to do the soft learning that you do before you get elected. So if you're thinking about representing your community, make sure you know it."
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De Pere
1702 Scheuring Rd., Ste. B
De Pere, WI 54115
www.gallagher.house.gov
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Washington, DC
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Washington, DC 20515
www.gallagher.house.gov
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