On Tuesday, May 21, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against former Chairman of the “US-China Commission,” Mike Gallagher, in the United States. This move comes on the second day of Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration as President of Taiwan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry claims that the reason for the sanctions is that Gallagher has frequently engaged in “interfering with China’s internal affairs, undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and infringing on Chinese interests” in recent years. However, the Foreign Ministry did not specify which actions violated Chinese interests.
The Foreign Ministry stated that it will freeze Gallagher’s assets, properties, and other types of wealth in China; prohibit the former US congressman from entering China; and ban organizations and individuals in China from engaging in transactions, cooperation, and other activities with Gallagher.
The “Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, IPAC,” expressed support for Gallagher on social media platform X on Tuesday.
“IPAC supports former member Mike Gallagher, who has effectively led the challenge against the People’s Republic of China (PRC, Communist China), and has been unfairly sanctioned by Beijing. We know that these sanctions will not prevent him from carrying out his important work.”
Gallagher, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, left office on April 19. Before leaving office, he served as Chairman of the House “US-China Commission” (officially known as the “United States-China Strategic Competition Committee”).
A few days ago, Gallagher officially joined the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C., as a distinguished researcher. In his first event on Monday, Gallagher discussed how the Chinese Communist Party has fueled the fentanyl trade ravaging the United States and “emphasized the need to enhance deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.”
He stated, “We cannot separate what is happening in Eastern Europe from the deterrence needs in the Indo-Pacific region.” The former Republican lawmaker believes that everything happening on the Ukrainian battlefield is closely related to whether Xi Jinping will invade Taiwan.
Gallagher has been a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party and a staunch supporter of Taiwan.
In February of this year, Gallagher led a delegation to visit Taiwan, where he met with then-President Tsai Ing-wen and then-Vice President (now President) Lai Ching-te. At that time, Gallagher stated that both Democrats and Republicans will do everything possible to deepen the relationship between Taiwan and the United States. He pointed out that the bipartisan delegation’s visit to Taiwan aimed to convey that if China decides to invade Taiwan, it will fail.
“Freedom is under attack by authoritarian aggression. We need to be more vigilant than ever before to pass on this gift of freedom to the next generation,” he said at the time.
Gallagher also led the “US-China Commission” in tabletop exercises on Beijing’s potential invasion of Taiwan, providing policy recommendations to counter China in advance.
He was also a proponent of the US ban on TikTok. President Biden signed this legislation into law on April 24. The law requires ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to complete the divestment from the app within a maximum of one year, or else the application will be banned from US app stores.
The day before China sanctioned Gallagher, US Secretary of State Blinken congratulated Lai Ching-te on his inauguration as President of Taiwan, which angered China. On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction” and “firm opposition” to Blinken’s actions, and has lodged a stern diplomatic protest with the United States.