Vice President Pence has made it clear that voters face a stark choice between two distinct visions for the future of the Republican party, and there are few ideological areas where that difference is clearer or more important than foreign policy. Today, too many candidates for the Republican nomination for President have embraced a vision of isolationism and appeasement that will imperil America and strengthen our enemies.
Simply put, appeasement is not a foreign policy. Burying our head in the sand and placating our enemies is a foolish and dangerous strategy. If America abandons the world stage as others have advocated, it will leave a vacuum that will be filled by our enemies and make our country less safe. President Pence will not allow that to happen.
Mike Pence firmly rejects populist foreign policies that are based on ignoring threats to the American people in an effort to avoid any foreign entanglement. Unfortunately, Republican candidates today would allow the enemies of freedom to run roughshod around the world until their tyranny washes up on our shores.
We live in a very dangerous world, and America is facing unprecedented threats. Russia is openly involved in the invasion of its sovereign neighbor, Ukraine and threatening the use of nuclear weapons. Russia’s ally, Communist China, is ramping up military spending at a blistering pace as it prepares to take over the free country of Taiwan. Even the Biden Administration is sending billions of dollars to enemies, who are plotting against us in Iran.
As history has taught us, if America ignores the cold reality of dangers facing our country and allies, our enemies will only be further emboldened. If we allow Putin to successfully take over Ukraine, what will stop him from doing the same to NATO allies like Poland, Estonia, or Latvia? At that point, it will be too late and American commitments will mean that our men and women would be forced overseas.
Peace through American leadership does not mean we have to be the world’s police. America’s interest in foreign affairs is ensuring our continued national security. With clear goals, firm resolve, and the strongest military on earth, America can lead on the world stage without sending American troops into harm’s way. It is far better, cheaper, and smarter to use our power to prevent war than to appease our enemies.
President Pence will implement an aggressive and comprehensive foreign policy plan that will reestablish America’s leadership on the world stage, weaken our enemies, and protect the citizens of the United States. The Pence plan will include the following key policies.
Global Military Leadership
Over the past decade, our adversaries have increased military spending at a rate that far outpaces the United States. Military spending in China, for instance, grew by 134% between 2011 and 2021. During that same time period, U.S. spending on defense increased by only 6.4%. Russia is expected to double its annual defense spending budget in 2023 alone. When it comes to developing military resources, America can no longer afford to be outpaced by communists and dictators. We must commit to rebuilding our military to secure our defenses.
Guarantee that our country spends a minimum of 3.5% of GDP on defense. This floor would infuse an immediate $1.2 trillion in defense spending offset by other cuts. During times when imminent global threats present themselves, that level should be even higher.
Rebuild the Navy and shipbuilding capability. Our country lacks the capacity to build the ships we need to defend ourselves. We need to create long-term shipyard capacity to build the fleet our military experts tell us we need. We must invest in building a fifth military shipyard for the future while working on existing civilian shipyards to meet the Navy’s stated need of 355 ships by the end of the decade.
End wasteful and woke military programs at the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense should not be a testing ground for liberal social experiments or non-mission spending. The Biden Administration’s focus on providing abortions, transgender surgeries, and inclusion training drains scarce DoD resources and takes away from defending our country. These programs should end.
Refill ammunition and weapons production capabilities to rebuild strategic stockpiles. As our military leaders have recently warned, America’s munitions stockpiles are dwindling. President Pence will make it a priority to use additional resources and funds from arms sales to allies to rebuild our national reserves of strategic weapons.
Invest in long-term defense industry infrastructure. As American manufacturing has uprooted over the years and moved abroad, so too has our defense industrial base – leaving us vulnerable to just-in-time overseas manufacturing that could suffer disruptions at critical moments. The Pence Administration will use additional defense resources to ensure our infrastructure can scale to meet all coming challenges.
Combatting China’s Ambitions of Conquest
We must make no mistake that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is focused on the eventual goal of world domination and subjugation. Vice President Pence has warned for years that both political parties had turned a blind eye to China’s many abuses on trade, military expansionism, and human rights violations in the misguided hope that China’s newfound prosperity would inevitably lead to liberty. It is time for a realistic view of Chinese ambitions and a tough national security policy that protects our interests against communist aggression.
Sell every necessary weapon to Taiwan. America can deter China by unleashing U.S. arms to Taiwan and immediately clearing the $19 billion backlog in arms sales from America. We must give Taiwan the tools it needs to defend itself before it is too late.
Repatriate American high-tech supply chains. Our nation’s dependence on China for everything from semiconductors to rare earth minerals to batteries is a national security risk. We will repatriate high tech supply chains and accelerate efforts to decouple the American economy from China in essential industries.
Protect American’s online data and tech security. The Chinese Communist Party has engaged in a sophisticated and comprehensive espionage campaign that takes sensitive information from American citizens using civilian online applications. Vice President Pence has reiterated his calls to ban TikTok and other technology owned by the CCP and used to spy on American citizens.
Stop the flow of fentanyl from China. The United States must go straight to the source and actively interdict the flow of fentanyl from China into the Western Hemisphere. Until we destroy the fentanyl supply chain, more American lives will be lost every day. Over 100,000 Americans died in 2021 alone. President Pence will bring charges against Chinese importers and use military force to stop the flow of drugs.
Ban China from purchasing more U.S. farmland. We will protect the integrity of American agriculture by banning Chinese investors from purchasing American farmland. Today, Chinese investors own nearly 200,000 acres of prime American farmland. We cannot allow China to control our food supply.
Stop the Chinese government from circumventing human rights rules. Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in order to ensure that the U.S. did not purchase goods produced with Uyghur slave labor. However, shipments from China under $800 do not meet the threshold for review under the Act, and the loophole needs to be closed to protect human rights.
Supporting Allies Around the World
By supporting and arming our allies around the world, the United States has the opportunity to thwart and contain our foes abroad – without spilling an ounce of American blood. We can use smart power to cultivate alliances that keep America safe without having to risk American lives. Ukraine is the perfect example of how we can weaken adversaries by helping allies. America cannot shy away from protecting allies around the world when it hurts our enemies and keeps the fight from our doorstep.
Continue to provide arms and support to Ukraine until Russia surrenders. President Biden has been far too slow in doling out military aid in Ukraine, slowing Ukrainian momentum and allowing Russia to dig in deeper, ensuring that the war is longer, costlier and deadlier than it has to be. The United States must continue and increase its support for Ukraine until Russia is defeated and expelled. Ukraine has destroyed more than 11,000 pieces of Russian military equipment and inflicted 300,000 Russian casualties according to latest US estimates—all without shedding a single drop of US blood.
Support Israel – America’s most important strategic ally. The Pence Administration will unequivocally provide military support for Israel, our strongest ally and most important partner in the Middle East. Agreements to send billions to the enemies of Israel, like Iran, will be a thing of the past.
Help Taiwan prepare its national defenses. We must help our allies in Taiwan bolster their defense capabilities, including transferring strategic weapons technology, assist Taiwan with developing its own resident cyber offense and defense capabilities, providing F-16s for sale, and conducting joint training, as examples. A policy of strategic ambiguity is useless if Taiwan cannot defend itself.
Use free trade and access to the U.S. economy to strengthen our allies and contain our enemies. Free trade is not a bad word if the United States is using the power of the world’s largest economy to help our friends and isolate our adversaries. We must use bilateral agreements with allies to bolster our security interests overseas.
Protecting the Border
It is impossible for America to demonstrate global leadership when it cannot even control its own borders. Democrats’ embarrassing policies have resulted in an open border and an international humanitarian crisis at our own front door. President Biden’s policies have also created a wide-open pathway for China to funnel deadly fentanyl onto American streets. Protecting our southern border and protecting our citizens must be a cornerstone of our foreign policy. We cannot secure peace if we cannot secure our own borders.
Reinstate the Remain in Mexico Policy. On his first day in office, President Pence will reinstate the successful Remain in Mexico policy that curbed the influx of illegal immigrant caravans making their way through Mexico. Under the Department of Homeland Security policy, individuals who do not initially file for asylum claims in their country of origin will be required to remain in Mexico while their claims are processed instead of being released directly into the United States.
Restart border wall construction. In 2021, President Biden unilaterally ordered the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to cease construction of border protection barriers. This politically motivated decision denied funding to secure our border that had been legally appropriated by Congress. President Pence will immediately restart construction of the wall in order to secure our southern border.
Detain and deport illegal immigrants at the border. According to recently revealed documents, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) released 79,652 illegal immigrants into the country in one month alone (June 2022). This policy encourages a surge at our southern border that has resulted in a human rights tragedy. President Pence will issue guidance to ensure that immigrants illegally crossing into this country are humanely detained and processed at the border.
Supply National Guard to states and special forces to fight drug dealers. Offer American states access to the National Guard in order to protect the border and leverage American economic power to forge an agreement to send U.S. special forces to eliminate cartels.
Economic and Energy Dominance
In 2010, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen famously said, “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Since that time, the crisis has only worsened. Today the national debt is $33 trillion or $98,000 per American. Our country now spends 10% of its budget on interest payments which takes money from national defense priorities. At the same time, President Biden’s unilateral war on American energy has taken away one of the most important sources of U.S. power – our abundant domestic energy supplies.
Ensure the U.S. is a net energy exporter. As the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis in Europe have demonstrated, energy is a geopolitical weapon. While President Biden is unilaterally dismantling American energy production, countries around the world are looking for American energy leadership. Under Biden, China is gaining a critical energy foothold around the world while America recoils from the stage. We must produce and export every type of energy to maintain our influence around the world.
Become independent of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). President Biden’s Executive Orders freezing oil leases on federal land were part of a larger war on oil that will make America more dependent on adversaries like Iran and Venezuela for oil in the future. President Pence will immediately take executive action to remove every Biden-era regulation that reduces energy production.
Cut the unsustainable federal debt. The national debt makes us more dependent on foreign countries for money and crowds our investment in our military. Today, we owe $860 billion to China because of our national addition to spending. Only Mike Pence has promised to address the real drivers of our deficit spending and address the debt.
Stop giving China taxpayer money from green energy subsidy programs. Politicians in Washington, led by President Biden, have recently passed billions in taxpayer subsidies for green energy programs, including up to $660 billion alone from the “Inflation Reduction Act.” President Biden is currently allowing those green energy funds to go to China where most batteries are produced. These misguided policies need to be repealed and Chinese firms must be banned from receiving American taxpayer dollars in the name of green energy.