Rock Island Today

In an interview with WICS-TV, Congressman Darin LaHood, R-Ill., a member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, raised concerns about China’s ambitions and actions that he perceives as threatening to American interests. LaHood’s focus on “exposing the malign activities of the CCP” extends to regions such as Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as espionage activities on U.S. soil, he said to WICS-TV.

“What we’re focused on is exposing the malign activities of the CCP in what they’re doing, whether it’s in Taiwan, whether it’s in Ukraine, whether it’s their espionage activities here in the United States,” LaHood told WICS-TV. “I don’t say this to scare people but China has a plan to replace the United States, and they’re working at it every day. They want to replace us technologically, militarily, economically, diplomatically.”

He noted the Select Committee is working to develop policy solutions, in a bipartisan manner, he said in the interview. He noted it is more important than ever to come up with new ideas to compete with CCP and bring supply chain jobs back to the U.S. He also questioned how we bring national security, technology and biometrics sectors back from China.

He suggested addressing those areas and concerns on the economic front, according to WICS-TV. He asked how we partner with likeminded allies in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia and "partner with them as we pivot to the Indo-Pacific region militarily and from a national security standpoint."

"But I would just, in conclusion, say the thing the CCP fears the most is bipartisan support against them. And so that’s what we’re working at in the Congress," LaHood said to WICS-TV. "And you’re going to continue to see a lot more issues that come up. And I think that was highlighted by the balloon that flew across the United States several months ago. It shows the level of penetration the Chinese are trying to get in the United States, and it should be a wake up call for us."

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., appointed LaHood to the House Select Committee on China, noting his expertise in U.S.-China relations, according to a January release. LaHood’s extensive background in addressing economic, technological and national security challenges posed by the CCP aligns with the committee’s objectives in countering emerging threats and promoting bipartisan solutions.

The Chinese spy balloon that traversed the U.S. earlier this year was equipped with American-made technology for data collection, according to preliminary findings from an investigation by U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal reported. The balloon, which was detected and intercepted by the U.S. military, carried a combination of commercially available U.S. equipment and specialized Chinese sensors, leading officials to conclude its purpose was espionage rather than weather monitoring, causing tensions in the already complex U.S.-China relationship. 

Meanwhile, U.S. senators have been waiting on an explanation from the administration of President Joe Biden, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

“Your administration has yet to provide the American people a full accounting of how this spy platform was allowed to traverse across sovereign U.S. territory, what the balloon carried, and what it collected during its mission,” Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote to the Biden administration in June, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The 16th Congressional District includes Boone, Bureau, DeKalb, Ford, Grundy, Henry, Jo Daviess, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, Marshall, McHenry, McLean, Ogle, Peoria, Putnam, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Winnebago, and Woodford counties, according to the Des Moines Register.