Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who last month pulled his state out of the running for a new Ford motor plant because the electric vehicle battery factory would have used technology made in China, said Sunday that China is trying to infiltrate the United States' economic supply chain by using "Trojan horse relationships like the one they have engineered with Ford Motor Company."
"China has one goal, world domination, and to do it at the expense of the United States," the Republican governor told Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures." "They're using every avenue possible from, yes, saber-rattling with their military to surveillance balloons and TikTok."
But Virginia, Youngkin said, is "standing up strong, including being sure that its farmland is not bought by the Chinese Communist Party.
"We've got a bill now through on a bipartisan basis that I will sign that will keep China from buying our agricultural farmland, particularly next to our nationally strategic assets like the Pentagon and Quantico and the largest naval base in the world," he said. "We're going to keep these assets safe."
Many U.S. investors want to keep investing money in China, Youngkin said, but he added that through his experience as a businessman, he has sat across the table from CCP leaders and he knows "exactly what they're doing."
"They are using their economic coercion tactics in order to gain access to our supply chain, and that's exactly what they did to General Motors back in 2016 when they demanded General Motors dump a Korean battery manufacturer," he added. "Economic security for the United States is critical."
He also accused the Biden administration of allowing China's advances, and he hopes that members of the U.S. Congress, America's CEOs, and citizens understand that the "liberal agenda will stand up to China until it gets uncomfortable and the minute that it encroaches on their green agenda or their liberal agenda to take donations from China into our universities and other places, they will back down."
The United States has turned a "blind eye" to China for years, said Youngkin, and now, China's plan to dominate the minerals industry and the U.S. supply chain is happening.
"We stood up when they were trying to dominate the 5G supply chain and created trusted 5G capabilities," said Youngkin. "We have to do the same thing in these other most important supply chains."
Youngkin also criticized President Joe Biden, who has traveled to Ukraine and is planning a trip to Virginia but has yet to travel to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the Feb. 3 train derailment and toxic chemical release.
"He wants to talk about health care? Why can't he go somewhere that people have real health concerns that are driving them to worry about not just the day-to-day impacts of this horrific train crash, but the long-term impacts with cancer threats?" said Youngkin. "This is a moment for leaders to lead, and Joe Biden needs to lead here."
Further, the governor spoke out about schools and Biden's policies and noted that Republicans demonstrated in 2021, with his win, that schools and parents are a Republican-winning platform.
"It's not because it's Republicans against Democrats, it's about empowering parents and recognizing that all parents, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, care about their children."
Meanwhile, Youngkin's name has come up as a potential 2024 candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, but he told Fox News he's continued to be focused on his state.
"We have got a big budget to negotiate, and one of the realities in Virginia is we've managed well," he said. "My eyes right now are really on Virginia, and we've got a lot of good work to do here."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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