Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Friday mentioned if he’s elected president, he’ll push for an growth of the U.S. Navy to assist fight the nation’s largest risk: China.

Pledging to develop a “four oceans Navy,” Mr. DeSantis mentioned the fleet will develop to 385 ships from 298 ships over his two phrases as president, placing the nation on “a pathway for 600 ships within the next 20 years.”

“That will be hard power that will make a difference,” he mentioned in a speech on the Heritage Foundation, a conservative suppose tank in Washington. “That will be hard power that will protect the peace.”

Mr. DeSantis mentioned the fleet growth is a part of a broader plan to maneuver away from President Biden’s “rudderless” and “weak” overseas coverage and towards an agenda centered on pushing again towards the Chinese Communist Party and its “dystopian” imaginative and prescient for the world.

“We are in an age in which we now have a peer competitor, and that competitor is the Chinese Communist Party,” the governor mentioned. “It is something we have to face, and we have to have a policy that is going to be able to protect the American people from the looming China threat.”

He added, “China has grand ambitions. They seek to be the dominant power in the entire world. This is a formidable threat, and it requires a whole-of-society approach.”

Mr. DeSantis mentioned China is the “key player behind” the conflicts between Israel and Hamas and Ukraine and Russia. He famous that the Chinese are retaining Iran, which backs Hamas, and Russia “afloat financially.”

To counter the risk, he mentioned, the U.S. should modernize and strengthen its army, overhaul the nation’s protection industrial base and make it simpler for Taiwan to purchase superior weapons and ammunition.

The governor mentioned America should open up home vitality sources to strengthen the financial system, dominate the tech race and ban China from buying land.

He emphasised that the nation should seal off the U.S.-Mexico border to cease the circulate of unlawful immigrants, together with Chinese nationals, and fentanyl getting into the nation.

“The United States has to treat the threat posed by the CCP the same way we treated the threat posed by the Soviet Union,” he mentioned.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com