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China: Our Rising Adversary

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library July 27, 2015
Text as prepared for delivery
Thank you for having me here tonight. In his farewell address, President Reagan said:
Dont be afraid to see what you see. I have always believed the role of a leader is to see
the truth, speak the truth and act on the truth. I am here tonight to speak about what I see
and to describe how I am prepared to act.
I see a world in dire need of American leadership. I see President Obama and Secretary
Clinton always speaking in terms of ambivalence and shades of gray, offering false
choices and raising the shadow of doubt about our will to lead. The next President of the
United States must reestablish our leadershipshe must speak with clarity, accept that
some things are black and white and act with courage. She must be prepared to challenge
the status quo and change the way things arewhether in Washington or around the
world.
The world is a more tragic and dangerous place when America is not leading. Terrorists
are on the march. Nearly 45,000 people are driven from their homes each day. Last week,
four marines and a Navy officer were murdered here at home by a radicalized terrorist.
Human trafficking is on the rise. Christians across the globe are persecuted. Women are
denied the most basic rights. Girls live in fear of being mutilated, raped, or bought and
sold as sex slaves. We tweet save our girls, but Boko Haram continues on a murderous
rampage of kidnapping, pillaging and horrors we can barely imagine.
President Obama has richly rewarded the bad behavior of Cuba, Russia, Syria, Iran and
Chinaand Mrs. Clinton has signaled her approval. It is really quite simple. When you
reward bad behavior, you get more of it.
President Obama has negotiated a deal with an Iran that has repeatedly violated
agreements, killed and wounded thousands of Americans, and flat-out lied about every
nuclear facility they have built over the last three decades. He has negotiated with a state
that refuses to release American prisoners. And for what? Yesterday we learned that the
Iranian regime has decided that in fact inspectors will have no access to their military
facilitiesnever mind 24 days notice, just no access. Period. Perhaps this is the content
of the secret deal between Iran and the IAEA?
In Russia, Secretary Clinton told us that she could reset our relationship therea
policy that has utterly failed. Ive met Vladimir Putin. He craves power. He will not be
stopped by a gimmicky red button. Putins ambition continues to grow, unchecked.

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When President Obama warned Assad not to cross a red line, Assad took this as an
invitation, not an admonition.
This administrations blind eye to aggression has become a black eye for America.
When we do not stand with our allies nor confront our adversaries, our friends lose
courage and our enemies press forward.
***
I know you are outraged. Sick of a professional political class that lectures and harangues
and never actually says anything at all. You know empty promises and bumper sticker
rhetoric solve nothing. For too long we have had too many speeches and too few results.
The American people deserve an honest leader. Who will own up to the difficulties of the
job in front of herand who has a track record of leadership, accomplishment, and
challenging the status quo.
As you are all aware, I am not a member of the professional political class. But I do have
extensive national security and foreign policy experience. I have served as the Chairman
of the CIAs External Advisory Board and I have advised Secretaries of State and
Defense as well as the NSA and Department of Homeland Security. I have done so with
the highest civilian security clearances. I have led a company doing business in 170
countries. I have advised governments and done charitable work in their nations. I have
met with and gotten to know many leaders around the world. They know me, respect me
and, most importantly, they trust me as a woman of action and of my word.
As President, I will not wait until things have reached the crisis level. And I will not shy
away from the most important challenges facing our world today. Because without
American leadership, we face two choices: regional hegemons who challenge America or
global chaos.
Heres what I will do as Commander in Chief. First, we must have the strongest military
on the face of the planet and everyone has to know it.
This will take both an investment in our military and a reform of the Defense
Department. We must fix whats called the tooth-to-tail ratios. Tooth-to-tail ratios are
measured regularly in the Defense Department. Toothtip of the spear, our fighting men
and women, the weapons systems and the technology they require to fight and win. Tail
bureaucracymuch too large for what we need to defend our nation. In fact, our
tooth-to-tail ratios are as bad right now as they have ever been. So its not just throwing
more money at the problem. Its investing the money as well as our intellect and our
imagination in the right placestoothand reducing the amount spent on a bureaucracy
in need of reform tail.

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President Obama announces the lay-off of 40,000 troops in response to sequester cuts.
Professional politicians have engaged in such brinksmanship which brought us the
sequester. While everyone decries it, no one has fixed it. We must reinvest in our
military. The next President of the United States, like Ronald Reagan, will need to
rebuild our military capability. Morale of our armed forces is low. We need a
Commander in Chief who will unabashedly celebrate their honor, courage, and sacrifice.
I was recently on the phone with Leif Babin, a decorated former Navy SEAL who has
received a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. We talked about the battle of
Ramadi and what our men and women are capable of. We have the bravest and strongest
fighting force the world has ever seen. Its time we act like it. They deserve a
Commander in Chief with a strategy for victory over there and they deserve a
government that fulfills its promises when they get home.
And so we must care for those who have served us. We need to overhaul the VA from top
to bottom. It is a stain on our nations honor. Technology can do amazing things but our
veterans are still waiting far too long for the benefits they earned. And we havent heard a
lot from the political class in Washington about the VA since it dropped out of the
headlines, but I can assure you it is still broken. And I will assure you that the political
class in Washington that hasnt fixed it for decades, isnt going to fix it unless we elect
someone who knows how to challenge the status quo and change bureaucracies.
On my first day in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls. The first will be to my
friend Bibi Netanyahu. I will reassure him that the United States will always stand with
the State of Israel. My second call will be to the Supreme Leader of Iran. He might not
take the call, but he will get the message. I will tell him: new deal. Unless and until Iran
opens itself to full and unfettered inspections of all nuclear and military facilities, we are
going to make it very hard for Iran to move money around the global financial system.
U.S. companies should not be profiting off of this murderous regime. The next President
of the United States will have a lot to do with whether Apple and McDonalds are doing
business in Tehran.
These two calls are also signals that the United States is back in the leadership business.
I will not call Vladimir Putin. We have talked way too much to him. But he too will get
the message.
We must rebuild our Sixth Fleet. We must conduct military exercises in the Baltic States.
President Obama unilaterally and inexplicably withdrew our missile defense programs in
PolandI will rebuild them.
We learn more about atrocities committed by ISIS every day. Christians are being
crucified. Children are used as body shields for jihadi soldiers. Muslims are killed for
being the "wrong type" of Muslim. Women and girls are subject to systematic rape.

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In order to defeat ISIS, we must be willing to call it what it is: Islamic extremism. When
21 Coptic Christians were beheaded on the beaches of Egypt, it was the President of
Egypt, President Al-Sisia very brave and pious Muslimwho went into Cairo to visit
with the most powerful imams and told them that Islam was in need of a religious
revolution. He knew that they must condemn radical Islam and call it what it is: a cancer
at the heart of their religion. We have to know what we're up against if we are to defeat
it.
I, like President Obama, will hold a Camp David summit, but not to talk our allies into a
bad deal with Iran to cement my legacy. Instead, I will discuss with our Arab allies how
we can support them in their fight against ISIS. They know this is their fight but they
must see leadership and resolve and support from us.
We will arm the Kurds as they have been requesting for three long years. I will provide
King Abdullah, a fine man, with the bombs and materiel he has requestedinstead of
putting him in a position to turn to China for help. I will share intelligence with the
Egyptians as they have requested. The Kurds, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, and the
Saudis are fighting ISIS on the ground as we speak.
I will make a promise to our friends in the Middle East to train their troops to fight
ISISand I will keep that promise. President Obama told us his administration would
spend $500 million to train 3,000 troops within the next year. Weve trained 60. Thats
simply unacceptable. And what do we see now? ISIS is gaining traction. The FBI now
tells us they are more dangerous than al Qaeda. Secretary Clinton and President Obama
declared victory in Iraq in 2011 and withdrew. They watched while ISIS grew, and a
growing crisis is now spiraling out of control.
***
Here is another truth that we must see and speak and act upon. China is our rising
adversary.
The Chinese people have tolerated repression, corruption, pollution, and sub-standard
safety in return for economic growth and an escape from poverty. And we have been an
important engine of that growth. This gives us real leverage. We have the ability to
impact their economy and change their calculation.
China is using their economic might to rewrite the global order. They are now the world's
largest purchaser of oil. They loan money to developing nations to build roads and other
critical infrastructurebut they are not doing it for goodwill. China wants these
countries natural resources. We are not giving these countries a viable alternative. China
has quickly built an international banking institution to rival the World Bank.
China is building their economic power and will wield it ruthlessly.
We are a nation founded on entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, and open markets.
Our prosperity is boundless. The Chinese people are willing to tolerate an oppressive

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regime in exchange for growthbut in fact this lack of freedom will ultimately limit their
growth. There are cracks in the faade already. Just a few weeks ago, we saw their stock
market in free fall and another 8-point plunge over night. The Chinese government is
trying to prop up their markets, but this is not a lasting solution. Our next president must
realize this opportunity and respond with confidence, using the tools we have here at
home. For example, the Chinese, like the Iranians and the Russians, engage in draconian
internet censorship. As Reagan once torn down a physical wall, we must tear down these
cyber-barriers to the free exchange of information.
China has moved aggressively into the South China Sea, building islands in the middle of
the ocean so that they can build military bases on top of these islands. This is a gateway
that moves $5 trillion worth of trade every year. China cannot be permitted to control this
gateway.
Our current President largely created this situation. In 2012, President Obama brokered a
deal between the Philippines and China to withdraw from a disputed portion of the South
China Sea togetherand China violated that agreement. We stood by as the Chinese
went from testing the waters to jumping all the way in.
We must push back against rising Chinese aggression. We should work with Vietnam and
the Philippines to improve their surveillance capabilities to deter the Chinese. We should
conduct military exercises with our Filipino friends. We must tell Chinaif you declare
an Air Defense Identification Zone over the South China Sea, we will not recognize it.
We will not comply.
Even this will not be enough. The Chinese are continuing to expand and improve their
nuclear arsenal. They are working hard to develop satellite and other technologies to
counter our weapons advantage. They have long worried about our nuclear advantage and
are now taking this opportunity to quietly build up their own arsenal and erode our
position.
We should help our Australian friends obtain military capabilities that they need and
want. We should support the Japanese efforts to expand their forces. We must stand
beside our allies. They will grow more resolute and stand up to those who seek to shift
the balance of power.
The Chinese steal our intellectual property with impunity and engage in state-sponsored
cyberterrorism. The Chinese government has stolen the personal information of over 20
million Americans. Weve known that the Chinese were seeking to infiltrate our
networks for over a decade. Weve also known about the vulnerabilities in those
networks. And yet, once again, the government bureaucracy was too bloated and inept to
act and the political classes were too complacent to stop it.
Having obtained the highest security clearances available to a civilian, I know the
Chinese now possess all my personal information. This is more than a bureaucratic
failing. The Chinese now possess incredibly valuable intelligence information.

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The answer from the political class is to demand the resignation of the head of OPM. But
what has been done to protect us from future cyberattacks? Has anything changed? The
political class moved on as soon as the outrage subsided and the bureaucracy continues to
lumber along.
And lets not forget our former Secretary of State told us her private server was protected
from hacking because she had two Secret Service agents guarding it. We werent worried
about your server being stolen, Mrs. Clinton. We were worried about it being hacked. Or
worse, used as a back door to hack into the State Department system, which is exactly
what appears to have happened at OPM.
The next President must understand technology. She must understand both how to use it
to harness the power of our citizenry to challenge the status quo of Washington and to
protect and defend our nation.
As Mrs. Clinton now runs for President, she likes to talk about her support of human
rights, women's rights and democracy. Her actions conflict with her words.
During her first trip to Asia as Secretary in February 2009, she told us we couldnt let
human rights get in the way of our other goals. China responded. They cracked down on
American companies, charitable organizations and free speech. They have thrown Nobel
Peace Prize winners in jail. Trafficking and domestic violence continue. Forced abortions
and death by exposure have ended the lives of countless millions and millions of female
infants.
Repressive regimes elsewhere in the world took notice as well. Mrs. Clinton personally
gave the Russians a reset button, just as the human rights situation in that country took a
drastic turn for the worse. In Iran, when the Green Movement demonstrated against the
murderous Ahmadinejad regime, she went silent.
China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist groups such as ISISthese are the big human rights
tests of our time. Women and girls are systematically targeted, subjugated, murdered,
raped and sold into bondage.
It is the height of hypocrisy for Hillary Clinton to run for President as a champion of
women's rights when her record as Secretary of State is this dismal.
Our ideals are a light that shines in the very darkest corners of the world. Today, without
American leadership, we have too many dark corners.
***
I see our nation at a crossroads. Margaret Thatchera woman I admire greatlyonce
said that she was not content to manage the decline of a great nation. Neither am I. I am
prepared to lead the resurgence of a great nation.

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Ilike all of youam deeply proud of our extraordinary nation and grateful to be an
American. This gratitude and pride is called patriotism. It is one of the greatest things
about our country and our enemies hate it.
In 2013, Vladimir Putin wrote in an op-ed to the New York Times that our patriotism is
dangerous. Just two weeks ago, as we negotiated with Iran, the Supreme Leader
denounced our people as the ultimate embodiment of arrogance.
Tyrants know that our patriotism, our principles, and our policies enable us to be a leader
on the global stage. Today, Americans sense danger at home and abroad. People all over
the world know the fundamentals of freedom and human dignity are threatened. And
when we abandon an ally or embolden an adversary, it reverberates throughout the world,
and as we tragically know, those ripples can too easily land on our shores.
We need a President who will see and speak and act on the truth. We need a President
who knows that some things are black and white and who will be a clear-eyed advocate
for policies formed by principles, not by polls and politics. We need a President who will
reassure our allies that we are a friend who can be trusted and who will show our
adversaries that we will not be bullied or intimidated.
We must nominate and elect a president who proudly accepts the mantel of leadership
that a weary world is eager for us to wear.
I know what such leadership requires. I will recognize dangers with eyes wide open but
will also embrace with open arms the enormous opportunities and potential of these
amazing times. I am prepared to be a President who will lead the resurgence of this great
nation, here at home and around the world.
Thank you and may God continue to bless our extraordinary nation.

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