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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took an uncharacteristically genial approach in the undercard GOP debate in Milwaukee on Tuesday, mostly refraining from criticizing his fellow candidates and training his fire on Hillary Clinton.
But Christie unloaded on a surprising target – China.
In response to a question about Chinese actions against the United States, Christie unleashed a passionate bromide against the Communist economic colossus.
“Let’s remember why we’re in the position we’re in – because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama,” Christie thundered. “That’s why we’re in the position we’re in. The Chinese don’t take us seriously, and why should they? They hacked into the American government’s personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country.”
Then, Christie made it personal.
“I’m one of the victims of that hack,” he said. “They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing.”
Christie promised a forceful response with a new form of warfare.
“Let me be really clear about what I would do,” he thundered. “If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before.”
Christie also suggested he would use cyberwarfare to destabilize the Chinese government.
“That is a closed society in China where they’re hiding information from their own people. The information we take? We’ll make sure the Chinese people see it. They’ll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they’re spending their money in China.”
Finally, Christie promised a symbolic act on his first day of office.
“One last thing, I’ll tell you this. They’re building those artificial islands in the South China Sea, and the president, up until recently wouldn’t sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I’ll tell you this – the first thing I’ll do is fly Air Force One over those islands.
“They’ll know we mean business.”
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Christie also stood up for America’s police officers.
“I’ll tell you the thing that disturbs me most about the Democratic Party in Washington: that they’re not standing behind our police officers across this country, that they’re allowing lawlessness, that they’re allowing lawlessness to reign in this country,” the governor declared.
Moderator Gerald Seib had asked each of the candidates to name one Democrat they admire or would be willing to work with, but each of the candidates refused to answer that question, opting instead to use their time on various other topics.
Christie used his time to fire a shot at the Democrats who have appeased Black Lives Matter and the group’s violent anti-police rhetoric.
Christie noted he spent many years of his life in law enforcement, and he made a promise to all the beleaguered law enforcement officers of the country.
“When President Christie’s in the Oval Office, I’ll have your back.”
