Transcript of Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi's Opening Statement from Hearing on CCP's Alignment with Authoritarian Governments

January 30, 2024
Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a hearing on the CCP’s support for America’s adversaries and its alignment with authoritarian governments.

The following witnesses provided testimony:

Below is a transcript of the opening statement from Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). Footage of the Ranking Member’s opening statement can be found here, and his questions to the witnesses can be found here.

Until the last few years, a lot of Americans thought that freedom and democracy were finally spreading around the world. After the Cold War, democracy spread from Eastern Europe, to East Asia, to sub-Saharan Africa.

In the 1990s, some pundits theorized that in addition to the spread of democracy, growing economic ties between countries would also make war less likely. In fact, there was even a theory that it would be impossible for two countries that both had McDonald’s to go to war with each other. This was called – I’m not kidding – the “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention,” and it would look something like this

As you can see in this picture, you can see the Golden Arches, and there’s Ronald McDonald conquering the battlefield. Instead of swords being beaten into plowshares, tanks are traded in for Happy Meals.

I like this theory a lot. One reason is that McDonald’s is based in my home state of Illinois. The other reason is McDonald’s was my first real job in life, flipping burgers, so I have a sentimental attachment to this theory.

But there is only one thing wrong with this theory. And that is, it’s false. It doesn’t work.

Because while the Chinese Communist Party invited McDonald’s into China, the CCP didn’t trade in its tanks for Happy Meals. Instead, in 1989, they sent those tanks into Tiananmen Square – just a few blocks from what would be the largest McDonald’s in the world.  

Vladimir Putin didn’t trade in his tanks, either, and sent them into Ukraine two years ago. When McDonald’s stopped operating in Russia in protest, Putin forced a sale of McDonald’s property and renamed their brand. You can’t go to McDonald’s in Moscow anymore, but you can go to this. It’s called “Vkusna i Tochka – Russian for “Tasty and That’s It.”

Economic ties with the CCP and Russia did not lead them to become democracies or to become more peaceful. In fact, the opposite happened.

After coming to power, Xi Jinping issued “Document Number Nine,” which tells the CCP to stamp out “false ideological trends” like democracy, universal values, media independence, and civil society. 

The CCP now jails, disappears, and murders journalists and dissidents. And it is carrying out an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.

Beyond its borders, the CCP militarized the South China Sea and is increasing its military threat to Taiwan. Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” partnership with Vladimir Putin and now stands by the Putin regime during its brutal invasion in Ukraine.

Last October, President Biden sent Congress a request for additional funding to support Ukraine and others who are defending freedom and democracy against those who wish to tear down these ideals.

In November, every single Democrat on this committee signed a letter to Congressional leadership urging this body to take action to pass that supplemental funding request.

It’s now January.

The time to pass President Biden’s supplemental funding request is now. It’s now.

The spread of freedom and democracy around the world has been one of recent history’s most extraordinary developments. The power of these ideals has been proven by how fiercely those who enjoy them are now fighting to protect them.

Rather than turn their swords into plowshares as they’ve integrated with the world economically, the CCP and Putin’s Russia have bought more swords. Consequently, we must acquire more shields. And we must help our friends shield their democracies from attack as well.

Our mutual security depends on it.

Thank you, and I yield back.

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