'This Week' Transcript 7-23-23: Gov. Jay Inslee, Mayor Grace Elena Garner & Rep. Michael McCaul

Interview

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Good morning, Martha.

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You know, he was facing disciplinary charges and was going -- going to fly back to the United States. But, instead, he did not board the plane, went with a tour group to the DMZ and then ran across the line.

I -- you and I have been there. You -- that's something you just don't do. And now he was taken captive by North Koreans. And I'm sure that he's not being treated very well. I think it was a serious mistake on his part and I hope we can get him back.

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Correct. I mean, you know, questions, is he defecting. I think he was running from his problems. That was the wrong place to go.

But, you know, we see this with Russia, China, Iran. When they take an American, particularly a soldier, captive, they exact a price for that. And that's what I worry about.

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Oh, I think it is. And I -- you know, I -- we were with, you know, Admiral Aquilino, Indo-PACOM commander. I think projecting strength right now is important for deterrence.

You know, as you note, it's the first time in four decades we've had this deployment of submarines. And I think it's a projection of strength that we need right now to deter aggression. We're seeing a very aggressive, not only North Korea and the rockets they fired in the Sea of Japan, you know, but also the aggression we see from China.

When I just came back from Taiwan, they encircled the island with 10 battleships and armada, 70 fighter jets, to threaten and intimidate us. And then I was sanctioned, just to illustrate how aggressive their posture is now.

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North Korea needs to know that we're there and we have superiority with the submarines, the nuclear subs. We need to get in their head, and Chairman Xi's head, that if they do anything that's aggressive militarily, we will -- there will be consequences to that.

And I think it's not by accident, by design that you're seeing the Pacific Command deploy these nuclear subs now for the first time in 40 years because attention has been provocative by Chairman Xi and North Korea, not by the United States, but rather by our adversaries.

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And that never seems to work. You know, you're right.

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Are we going to work with Kim Jong-un to try -- I mean, you know, can we really persuade him?

He puts his own people at risk to build this expensive, you know, nuclear weapons. These -- they have capacity. They can reach the continental United States. They don't have the nuclear warheads to put on it (INAUDIBLE) miniaturize them.

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They've been trying. We've got to stay ahead of the curve.

China has a lot of influence, but China isn't our best friend right now. So it's a very complicated -- I think what --

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Yes.

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I mean, it would have to be very creative diplomacy. And I think the reason why you're seeing the Pacific Command fleet there is to deter and bottleneck up (ph) North Korea in the event of a -- of a conflict with Taiwan. We need to -- to be with South Korea to bottleneck up North Korea. They could fire missiles into that conflict and take them off the table while we have to deal with China and Russia and Iran.

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I -- I think it's happening, right. And it's hot outside. And -- and the climate is changing. And when you have arid, you know -- the -- Africa, for instance, is becoming more and more arid, which, you know, famine, you know, breaks out of that. Terrorism breaks out of that -- those conditions.

I -- I, you know, test -- Kerry testified before my committee. My big objection is this, China should be held to the same standards. They are a developing nation under the U.N. Charter, self-designated, and that enables them to -- they can defer compliance of the Paris Agreements till 2060, while we have to be carbon neutral by 2030. And I said that to Secretary Kerry. And my constituents agree that fairness --

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This is not fair to treat them as a develop -- they're the second largest economy superpower and the number one polluter in the planet. If we're going to do this at all, Martha, do it right and make them comply to our terms.

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Thanks for having me.

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