Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said that his attempts to hold China accountable have landed him in a bit of hot water with Beijing — but he doesn’t care.
Hawley explained the situation to Fox News host and Daily Caller cofounder Tucker Carlson during a Tuesday segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” (RELATED: ‘We Are Too Reliant On China’: Cotton, Hawley Call On US To Regain Independence From Communist Regime)
WATCH:
Hawley explained that the Chinese government had threatened to sanction him personally and to sanction his home state of Missouri as well. Missouri has filed a lawsuit against China over mishandling of the coronavirus and allowing it to become a pandemic.
“I proposed legislation that would allow every American who has been hurt by this COVID pandemic that Beijing unleashed on the world, to allow every American to go to court who has been hurt, hold the Chinese government accountable and have the court free Chinese assets,” Hawley added. “I guess that makes me a target, I don’t care.”
“We are going to keep speaking the truth, and we are going to hold China accountable, and this is the time,” Hawley concluded. “We have got to change our relationship with China. It is now or never.”
Hawley noted that he had some support when he made the initial arguments that China needed to be held to account, but when the time came to put “rubber to road,” people had thus far been less willing to act.