McConnell Remarks On U.S. National Security Interests In The Indo-Pacific

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:

"I've said frequently that the single most important, immediate objective for the free world right now is a Russian defeat in Ukraine.

"I mean that. But not just for its implications on trans-Atlantic security or our own economy. Not just because helping degrade a major adversary's military strength is in America's interests.

"Not just because the defense of Ukraine has ignited significant new investments in hard power here at home and among our European allies.

"Certainly not just because of what the outcome will say about how the free world values sovereignty.

"No, the world we live in doesn't reward thinking compartmentally. Security threats don't exist in vacuums. Our credibility is not divisible.

"Our adversaries are working more closely together to undermine the American-led order. And allowing one threat to fester makes every other one a taller order.

"This week, the final report of the independent, bipartisan Commission on the National Defense Strategy underscored this reality.

"Quote, '[The] new alignment of nations opposed to U.S. interests creates a real risk, if not likelihood, that conflict anywhere could become a multi-theater or global war.'

"A multi-theater war - the sort of conflict America is simply not prepared to fight. Too many in Washington seem to think America can just opt out of facing such a challenge.

"But our enemies get a vote, too. And we owe it to our servicemembers and the American people to plan accordingly.

"As the NDS Commission report lays out, we have a lot of work to do. And not much time to do it.

"The PRC's military is already leaving little room for doubt about Beijing's willingness to use hard power to coerce its neighbors, and to test American power and Western resolve.

"Last month, the PRC's naval forces launched a violent confrontation in disputed waters that Beijing clearly hopes to turn into a Chinese lake.

"The Philippines, America's longtime treaty ally, has maintained a lawful presence in an area just 100 miles off their coast known as the Second Thomas Shoal for decades. Its sailors peacefully man a grounded ship on the shoal, and they count on regular shipments of supplies.

"But in recent months, these shipments have come under brazen attack.

"Chinese forces have rammed Philippine resupply vessels, harassed them with water cannons, injured Philippine sailors, destroyed their navigation equipment, towed them out to sea, and left them for dead.

"Thankfully, the most acute aggression appears to have subsided for the moment. But a fundamental reality remains:

"Just as Russia is using force to redraw European borders and reassert imperial ambitions…

"Just as Iran is using force to sow chaos and threaten international shipping…

"The People's Republic of China is engaged in a concerted effort to expand its control over maritime commerce well beyond its borders and to build a pretext for wider conflict.

"And the first target of that conflict may well be America's longest-standing treaty ally in the Indo-Pacific.

"Our adversaries have struck up a 'no-limits' partnership. And the challenges they present us are as complex as they are urgent. We don't get to make neat, tidy, either-or choices about which threats deserve our attention. Not anymore.

"The Senate was right to pass a national security supplemental to equip vulnerable partners with American weapons and invest in expanding our defense production capacity earlier this year.

"And the Biden Administration was right to start directing more rhetorical attention to the challenge facing our Philippine ally.

"But to the extent that the Administration is serious about backing up its frequent assurances to the Philippines with actual support, it's high time to do more to help our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific to reconfigure and strengthen their defenses against the PRC's maritime threat… And to clear bureaucratic barriers so security assistance programs can move at the speed of relevance.

"Most importantly, it's time for Congress and the Administration to take our shared responsibility to provide for the common defense seriously.

"So I'll close today with another quote from the co-chairs of the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission.

"Quote: 'The Commission finds that the United States faces the most significant national security threats since the height of the Cold War, if not World War II. We are not prepared to meet those threats. The United States confronts the prospect of war against peer and near-peer adversaries simultaneously across multiple theaters - a war we could quite possibly lose.'"

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