Sen. Cotton sounds alarm on China at Orrin Hatch award gala

SALT LAKE CITY — One of the most influential foreign policy voices in Washington, D.C., Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, gave a full endorsement of President Donald Trump's approach to Ukraine, Iran and Taiwan on Thursday.

Cotton told Utah members of Congress and community leaders in attendance at the annual Orrin G. Hatch Foundation Titan of Public Service Award Gala that the United States must be ready to go to war with China if it wants to prevent the Asian superpower from invading its neighbor.

"The surest way to preserve the peace is to be prepared for war," Cotton said. "We need to be prepared for war with China — that's the surest way to deter war with China, in which there are almost no winners."

Is Trump an isolationist?

Cotton, who was recognized for his rise in Republican leadership with the Hatch Foundation's Titan of Public Service award, has made a name for himself over the past decade as one of the Senate's premier hawks on global affairs.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Cotton served with distinction in the U.S. Army, getting deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan before entering the House in the Tea Party wave of 2013, and winning his Senate seat one year later.

Cotton has since become one of Trump's most consistent advocates on themes of national security. Cotton is now the third-ranking member of the Senate GOP, as chair of the Senate Republican Conference, and chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee.

During a discussion with former Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith on Thursday, Cotton argued that Trump's foreign policy is "not at all" isolationist. Rather, it consists of "bold American leadership" that achieves peace by promising punches and following through if countries threaten American interests.

"He says what he means, and he means what he says, and no one should think that he bluffs or will back up," Cotton said.

The senator pointed to Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities after a 60-day period the president had given the Islamic Republic to accept a deal that prohibited the development of nuclear weapons.

It was Trump who successfully pressured NATO allies in Europe to increase their defense budgets, who slapped a 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil, and who has threatened Russia with additional sanctions if a ceasefire is not reached with Ukraine, Cotton said.

Cotton targets China

But it is Trump's approach on China that may have shifted bipartisan consensus the most. And, according to Cotton, it is bipartisan action to end unfair trade practices with, and unsafe trade dependence on, China that will secure the safety of future Americans.

The U.S. needs to pursue a path of "strategic decoupling" from China in the areas of pharmaceuticals and critical minerals for aerospace, defense and computer technology, said Cotton, who published his book "Seven Things You Can't Say About China" earlier this year.

Prior to Thursday's gala, Cotton spoke at a policy roundtable with members of Utah's congressional delegation and the aerospace and defense industry, where he discussed China's "infiltration on many levels throughout our country," Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy told the Deseret News.

On Wednesday, Cotton sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressuring him to immediately change Pentagon policies to prevent noncitizens from accessing Department of Defense programs after a ProPublica report found Microsoft used China-based engineers to maintain them.

Cotton sent another letter on Wednesday to computer chip manufacturer Intel with questions about its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan's, connections to China, including current investments in Chinese chip firms.

Trump responded on Thursday with a message of his own, posting to his Truth Social platform that, "The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem."

Cotton's leadership on the bipartisan priority of countering China's aggression at home and abroad is one of the many reasons he was chosen to be honored with Thursday's award, according to Matt Sandgren, the executive director of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and Hatch's final chief of staff.

"Sen. Cotton has been sounding the alarm about what we need to be watching for and making sure that we don't have a foreign adversary like China taking over," Sandgren said in an interview with the Deseret News.

Is bipartisanship still possible?

The Hatch Foundation selected Cotton to receive the award because of his record of sacrifice to serve in the military and his commitment to respectful dialogue despite serious disagreement, according to Sandgren.

Past recipients of the award include former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; his wife, former Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao; and current Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Current United States Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer also attended Thursday's event, offering brief remarks in support of Cotton and of Trump's policies.

In his role, Cotton has not been afraid to take partisan stances.

Over the past week, Cotton has pushed the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether former special counsel Jack Smith's legal actions related to Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents were politically motivated.

But in an interview with the Deseret News, Cotton said the age of bipartisan compromise that made Utah's longest-serving senator the most effective legislator in Congress is not dead. Cotton said he learned from Hatch that "the senator who is your implacable opponent today, they may be your indispensable ally tomorrow."

"I think those are permanent human virtues that Orrin Hatch embodied, and they're always going to be respected — not just in the United States Senate, but among all people," Cotton said.

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