Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., warned Sunday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has become the "21st-century emperor of China" and the "most powerful" Chinese dictator since Mao Zedong.
Speaking with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Features" host Maria Bartiromo, Waltz said Xi "has cemented his place as a 21st-century emperor of China. He humiliated his predecessor. He has stacked to the organs of power in China with his loyalists. He has centralized power with himself. He has eliminated term limits. So, essentially, he is dictator for life now, all with a major step towards what he sees as his legacy. And that’s returning China to become the global superpower, not a superpower, but the global superpower, in line with ancient Chinese greatness.
"And to do that, he’s told his military to rapidly modernize, to prepare for war by 2027. Their navy is larger than ours. Their space force is launching more than we are. And he’s told his economy to become self-sufficient, both technologically and from a manufacturing standpoint, so that they can resist any type of outside pressure. He has become the most powerful Chinese dictator since Mao," Waltz added.
This development comes as the Chinese Communist Party concluded its People’s Congress on Saturday, which gave Xi an "unprecedented" third term. One of Xi’s first moves afterward was to shame his predecessor, former Chinese leader Hu Jintao.
Waltz also said a new GOP House majority will have a Select Committee on China that will cover important issues of CCP influence both in the U.S. and around the world, such as China’s buying up U.S. farmland and infiltrating universities, as well as its ownership of ports throughout the world and its influence on Wall Street.
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