Nikki Haley is desperately trying to rewrite her record on China, but the reality is she spent years praising Communist China as ambassador to the UN and welcomed hundreds of millions of dollars of investments from Chinese businesses as governor of South Carolina. 

While representing America as ambassador to the United Nations, Haley described Communist China as a “great friend” and said it was “fine” for them to be “everywhere in the world.”

CBS: “I know that President Trump spoke with the Chinese President Xi last night. What more does China need to do?” 

Haley: “Well, I think China is really in good faith doing quite a bit. They are trying to put pressure on North Korea. What we have said is we want him to put more pressure on North Korea, whether that’s with coal, whether that’s with oil, whether it’s with other sanctions. And I think that they are also talking with the leaders in North Korea and telling them that they don’t need to do anything. And so I think China has been a really great friend of ours, and the way they came together with us to do the statement last week showed that we are united against wanting North Korea to stay away from doing any sort of nuclear threats.”

ABC: “How do you view China? I know President Trump, in the past, has said he views China as an enemy, at least an economic enemy.” 

Haley: “I think what you have to look at is, you know, China and Russia play very different roles. They both are getting involved across the world in all different pockets. Their tentacles are everywhere. Russia is doing it through elections and through military actions and through trying to get involved in conversations. China is doing it economically. If you look at their infrastructure, they are everywhere in the world now and they want to continue to do it so that they have a stronghold. And what we need to do is say that’s fine, if they’re going to continue to do that, they’re also going to have to be accountable for the things that they are responsible for. And we do think North Korea is one of those that they need to be held accountable for.” 

Good Morning America: “President Trump did speak with the President of China, President Xi overnight and China urged restraint in this North Korean situation. Is the United States prepared to explore exit ramps from this crisis? For example, China has asked the US to consider suspending military exercises with South Korea if North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear missile tests. Is that an acceptable tradeoff?” 

Haley: “We’re not going to do that. I mean, that is too important at this point. What we can say is South Korea has been an ally from the very beginning. We want to protect them just as we’re protecting ourselves and that’s what we said we were going to do. We were going to have the backs of our allies and we were going to call out our adversaries. And now North Korea has done nothing but give every reason why we need to have military exercises in South Korea. And I think that while we’ve worked well with China, I think we saw a unanimous security council released last week condemning North Korea on what they’re trying to do with their testing and launches, and what we’re saying is, look, we’re not backing down from South Korea and North Korea just needs to get in line. And I think China has been great at helping us do that.”

Haley calls Communist China a threat to American businesses on the campaign trail, but the reality is she gladly welcomed and incentivized Chinese businesses in South Carolina as governor.

Haley: “Here is my comprehensive plan to confront China:… Protect our economy. I’m a firm believer in economic freedom. But I also agree with Adam Smith that defense ‘is of much more importance than opulence.’ National security is affected by almost every part of our relationship with China. Beijing knows it and uses American investment and innovation to strengthen its military. American companies sell billions of dollars worth of goods in the Chinese market, much of it with military application. China also forces technology transfer and steals up to $600 billion of American intellectual property every year. I will push American businesses to leave China as completely as possible.” 

CNBC: “‘Companies and people have said for too long, ‘We’ll deal with China tomorrow.’ But China is dealing with us today. We’ve got to address this,” she added. Haley said “every company needs to have a Plan B” in the event that China decides to “pull the rug out from under us.” She called Beijing ‘the biggest threat we’ve had since Pearl Harbor.’”

Fox News: “In 2016, Haley praised a $300 million investment in Richland County, South Carolina, by the Chinese fiberglass manufacturer China Jushi Co. Ltd., which cited ‘great support’ from the state government for doing so.” 

Fox News: “Earlier, in 2015, Haley welcomed a $72 million investment in an existing facility by Haier, a Chinese appliance manufacturer. The expansion by Haier – which is headquartered in Qingdao, China – resulted in a groundbreaking ceremony at the facility located near downtown Camden in Kershaw County. … Sharing a photo from the groundbreaking ceremony in 2015, Haley wrote in a Facebook post, “We were excited to participate in the groundbreaking for Haier’s expansion in Camden!

New York Times: “Volvo Cars will build a factory in South Carolina, the company said, making it the first time a Chinese-owned automaker will have an auto assembly plant in the United States…The automaker will receive about $200 million in combined incentives. That includes $120 million in economic development bonds, $30 million in state grants and an additional $50 million of incentives from a state-owned utility company, Santee Cooper…South Carolina’s governor, Nikki R. Haley, echoed that sentiment on Monday, saying in a statement that Volvo’s presence ”will be felt for decades to come.”

Haley has insulted our service members by claiming China’s military is stronger than ours and cherry picking examples of their efforts to strengthen their military relative to the U.S. 

Haley: “We’ve gotta focus on the military aspect. Look at the fact that they are, they have a stronger military. We need to strengthen our military.”

Haley: “You look at China now, they’re on the march. They’re building up their military. They have the largest naval fleet in the world. They have more air defense systems than we do. They’ve just developed the fifth generation fighter jet.”

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