The timing of the Chinese spy balloon before Secretary of State Antony Blinken's now-canceled visit is not "a coincidence," but is a deliberate effort by China to "humiliate" America on the global stage, according to Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that it was timed to coincide with Secretary Blinken's visit, though we don't have proof of that yet," Gallagher, the chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y., The Hill reported.
Gallagher added to host John Catsimatidis it is "well within the Chinese Communist Party's playbook" to plan the event as a way to "humiliate" America.
"It just would not surprise me if this whole thing were intended to send a message to us while our secretary of state was visiting," Gallagher said Sunday. "And the message is: 'Look what we can get away with. And you won't do anything about it. You'll still come crawling back.'
"So it tells us something fundamental about the Chinese Communist Party."
The new Gallagher-led committee will have its hands full with threats and provocations and will have to deliver a "serious, sober effort" in addressing them in the GOP-led House, Gallagher said.
The spy balloon incident is just the latest example of spying in America by the CCP, and Gallagher said it will not be the last.
"We want, in a bipartisan fashion, to push back against threats to our security, against threats to our sovereignty, and ensure that the Chinese Communist Party can't get away with things like this," Gallagher told Catsimatidis.
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