Haley Campaign Press Release - Nikki Haley Has the Courage to Take on China

The Nashua Telegraph by Melinda Tourangeau

The following op-ed was published in the Nashua Telegraph July 15, 2023.

I know what American strength looks like. I saw it when, as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, I worked on President Ronald Reagan's historic Star Wars initiative – a program that scared the Soviet Union so much, it contributed to that regime's collapse and our victory in the Cold War. It was proof that peace comes through strength, a lesson I learned time and again in 17 years in uniform.

I also know what American weakness looks like. We're seeing it under Joe Biden. He's retreated from the world and let our enemies rush into the breach. They're laughing at our impotence. Especially Communist China. They're the new Soviet Union in a second Cold War. Yet the U.S. isn't fighting to win.

I know America deserves a better leader. Someone who can end this era of weakness, restore our strength, and protect our country and families in the 21st Century.

Joe Biden is clearly not that leader.

I believe Nikki Haley is.

Nikki Haley has the courage and confidence that this moment demands. She proved it in her time at the United Nations. As Ambassador, she stood toe-to-toe with the world's worst dictators. Russia. North Korea. And yes, Communist China. She never apologized and she always showed strength. She rallied countries to stand with America, precisely because she believes in America and fights for our freedom.

Nikki Haley proved her strength again in a speech last month on the Chinese threat. She recognizes that China is using every tool at its disposal to weaken us. It's in our colleges. It's corrupting our economy. It's infiltrating our culture. And it's trying to overtake our military. Nikki is the only candidate with a comprehensive strategy to protect our people and preserve peace.

In that sense, Nikki Haley is the polar opposite of Joe Biden. She is strong where he is weak. And where he's created and worsened problems, she's offering real and achievable solutions.

Look at fentanyl. China is behind the surge of drugs that's coming over our border and killing our loved ones, since Chinese companies make most of the chemicals. Biden has done nothing to stop the flood. Nikki is calling to end normal trade relations with China until it stops killing our people.

Look at our economy. China is stealing our best technologies to strengthen its military. Amazingly, Joe Biden is still allowing sensitive high-tech exports to China. Nikki has called to end those exports, stop American investment in Chinese companies that threaten our national security, and rebuild our manufacturing base so we aren't dependent on China for critical things like medicine and computer chips.

Look at our homeland security. China is running propaganda centers at our colleges, buying farmland next to our military bases, and lobbying our own government with Communist lies. Joe Biden has let all of this happen without a response. Nikki has laid out a plan to get Chinese influence out of America for good.

And of course, look at our military – the same military in which I proudly served. China is building the biggest navy the world has ever seen, as well as more nuclear and hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters, and even space warfare technologies.

We have to stay ten steps ahead of China. Yet under Joe Biden, our Navy is shrinking, our hypersonic missiles are grounded by red tape, and our Armed Forces can't meet their recruiting goals. Nikki Haley has promised to roll back the woke nonsense in our military, roll out the weapons and tools we should have had ten years ago, and keep the peace by ensuring we can win any war. I know she means it because her husband is deployed overseas at this very moment.

How do you know Ambassador Haley is on the right track? Because the Chinese embassy lashed out at her speech. It said that standing up to China "will ultimately harm everyone's interests." It even threatened that anyone who threatens China "will end up on the ash heap of history."

The Chinese government doesn't respond to people it doesn't see as threats. Clearly, China is worried about Nikki Haley. It should be.

Nikki's strategy to confront China springs from her deep love of America. She knows that our freedom is worth defending, especially from an enemy that wants to swallow our country in communist tyranny. Nikki Haley is proud of America, and as she often says, "we have a country to save."

I did just that in the uniform. Now I'll do it again by doing my part for Nikki in the first primary state in the nation.

Melinda Tourangeau is an Air Force veteran, small business owner in Milford, N.H., and current New Hampshire Co-Chair for Nikki Haley for President.