Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40), who serves as Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, joined the Concordia Summit on September 18, 2023 for a conversation on national security issues in the Indo-Pacific moderated by Andrew Desiderio, Senior Congressional Reporter at Punchbowl News.
Watch the full conversation HERE and read highlights from Rep. Kim’s comments below.
On the importance of U.S. support for our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific
“The United States cannot lead and be the leader in the global stage without our friends, and our friends, our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, they cannot counter China’s growing aggression alone.”
On the importance of the US-ROK-Japan Trilateral Summit
“It’s very significant and is very important because of the growing aggression from China. It is really important that we United States, work together with our allies, especially and in the Indo-Pacific, Japan and South Korea.I really applaud the leadership of President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida for recognizing the moment and working past the political pressure and setting that aside to come together. I also have to give a shout out for our White House for actually hosting the trilateral meeting at Camp David. This is really important because again, we need to work together.”
On how supporting Ukraine impacts Taiwan
“As we watch the continuing Russia and Ukraine aggression, we know Xi Jinping is watching and how we respond to that conflict is so important.We need to make sure that we project strength and tell our ally, especially Taiwan, and those who are watching this conflict very closely.”
On delivering backlogged arms sales to our allies
“It is so important that we keep our words to our allies and our adversaries will see that. We need to project strength. But if we’re not delivering on our promises, what message does that send? And I think that’s critically important.”
On the importance of supporting Taiwan and countering the Chinese Communist Party
“We’re in a strategic competition with China and our allies know that too. Defending Taiwan and making sure that we work together to keep the free and open Indo-Pacific and making sure that Taiwan is not invaded by China is in the long-term interests for not only United States, but to our allies.”
On supporting Taiwan in international organizations
“One of the first things I did when I came to Congress as a freshman was to introduce legislation to make sure that Taiwan gets its observer status at the World Health Organization. […] Taiwan deserves to have a seat at the table in the international organizations, not just in WHO but WHA, ICAO, for example. I know this is something that Congress worked on for a long time. We need to make sure that they have a place. Time and time again, Taiwan has been our trusted partner, not only in the economic terms, but they are also good security partners as well.”
On congressional delegations traveling to China
“When we are in strategic competition with China, we have to be very strategic when our CODELs or congressional delegation goes to meet with them, especially if any members are thinking about going to China. We got to put the best team forward who can withstand the bullying tactics that China does.”
On the Biden administration sidelining Congress and traveling to China
“I’ve been frustrated with this Biden administration actually sending all of our high-level secretarial levels to go to China just to get the meeting. They have to make several concessions to do it. For what? We come back. We have fruitless results. I’ve been frustrated by it. But along the way, they bypass Congress. We need to work together. It happened with my own Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, too. I was supposed to have a State Department official come to my Indo-Pacific Subcommittee to testify. Yet just a day before the supposed hearing, they notified that they cannot come anymore because they have to accompany Secretary Blinken to go to China. That wasn’t going to happen until the end of the week on Friday. My hearing was on Wednesday. They could have done both, right? And they came back, and I asked for deliverables. What was the deliverable from that meeting? Nixing my committee. And they said we opened the line of communication. While that’s important, you cannot bypass Congress.”
