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U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40), who serves as Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, spoke on the House floor in support of H.Res. 104, condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over the United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty.
Watch her floor speech HERE and read her remarks below as prepared for delivery.
Thank you, Chairman McCaul, for yielding and for your leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
I rise in strong support of this resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territory as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty and international norms.
The balloon has been shot down, and I thank those who bravely completed the mission. However, many questions remain, and intelligence reports show what we all knew: this was neither a coincidence nor something to be taken lightly.
This surveillance balloon was part of a larger program by the CCP that has collected information on military assets in Indo-Pacific countries such as Taiwan, Japan, India and the Philippines.
We also know this balloon does not even scratch the surface of the CCP’s surveillance capabilities. Millions of Americans are spied on every day through Tik Tok and other state affiliated applications and technologies.
Whether in air space or cyberspace, we cannot allow the CCP to spy on us. We cannot allow the CCP to threaten our way of life and the American Dream.
The time to project strength is now. We must defend our airspace, send a strong signal to the CCP that this behavior will not be tolerated, and equip our allies with the tools they need to deter and defend against the CCP’s aggression.
As Indo-Pacific Subcommittee Chair, I am committed to getting answers from the Biden administration about when they knew the CCP’s balloon was entering U.S. airspace, what they know about the CCP balloon program and ensuring the U.S. responds to aggression with strong, decisive action from our leaders.
Thank you, and I yield back.
