Trump Vows Tough China, Russia Policy: 2024 Election Focus

Milwaukee, Jul 19 (PTI) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday signalled a strong policy against China if elected to power after the November general elections.

Trump, 78, is seeking his second term. China was mentioned a maximum number of 14 times in his lengthy speech that lasted over an hour and a half. China was followed by Russia, nine times, and Iran was mentioned eight times in his speech concluding the four-day Republican National Convention here.

In his speech, the former president indicated that his foreign policy would be tougher than the one was in his first term, (2017-2020). “The entire world, I tell you this, we want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office or you will be paying a big price. With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over,” he said.

“China is likewise circling Taiwan, and Russian warships and nuclear submarines are operating 60 miles off the coast in Cuba,” he said.

America, he said, is on the cusp of a new golden age. “But we will have the courage to seize it. We're going to take it. We're going to make it a current -- I mean, we're going to bring this into a golden age like never seen before. Remember this. China wants to do it. Japan wants to do it. All of these countries want to do it. We have to produce massive amounts of energy if we're going to produce the new -- if you look at some of the things that have been done and some of the things that we're going to do. But AI needs tremendous -- twice the electricity that's available now in our country,” he said.

Trump said that the Bagram air base is now under Chinese control. The Biden Administration gave up Bagram, one of the biggest bases anywhere in the world, the longest runways, the most powerful, hardened, thickened runways. “We gave it up. And I liked it, not because of Afghanistan. I liked it because of China. It's one hour away from where China makes their nuclear weapons. And you know who has it now? China has it now. We were keeping that. And now China is likewise circling Taiwan, and Russian warships and nuclear submarines are operating 60 miles off the coast in Cuba,” he said.

In his first term, the former president said, the US had an economy, the likes of which nobody, no nation had ever seen. “China, we were beating them at incredible levels, and they know it. They know it. We'll do it again, but we'll do it even better. I will end the illegal immigration crisis by closing our border and finishing the wall, most of which I've already built,” he said.

According to Trump, in his first term, he told China and other countries that if they buy from Iran, the US will not let them do any business in this country. “And we will put tariffs on every product you do send in of 100 per cent or more. And they said to me, 'Well, I think that's about it'."

"They weren't going to buy any oil, and they were ready to make a deal. Iran was going to make a deal with us, and then we had that horrible, horrible result that we'll never let happen again. The election result, we're never going to let that happen again,” he said.

Trump mentioned COVID-19 as the China Virus.

The former president assured his Republican party base that every war would end.

“I will end every single international crisis that the current administration has created, including the horrible war with Russia and Ukraine, which would have never happened if I was president; and the war caused by the attack on Israel, which would have never happened if I was president,” he said.

“Iran was broke. Iran had no money. Now Iran has USD 250 billion. They made it all over the last two-and-a-half years. They were broke. I watched the other day on a show called Deface the Nation. Has anyone seen it? And they had a congressman who was a Democrat say, "Well, whether you like him or not, Iran was broke dealing with Trump." I told China and other countries, if you buy from Iran, we will not let you do any business in this country, and we will put tariffs on every product you do send in of 100 per cent or more,” he said.

“And they said to me, 'Well, I think that's about it'. They weren't going to buy any oil, and they were ready to make a deal. Iran was going to make a deal with us, and then we had that horrible, horrible result that we'll never let happen again. The election result, we're never going to let that happen again,” said the former president.

Under President George Bush, Russia invaded Georgia. Under President Barack Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under the current administration, Russia is after all of Ukraine, he said.

“Under President Trump, Russia took nothing. We defeated 100 per cent of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, something that was said to take five years. 'Sir, it will take five years, sir.' We did it in a matter of a couple of months,” he said.