Marco Rubio plans social media push to fight China’s threat

​​In speeches, op-eds and on his Twitter feed, Sen. Marco Rubio has been doing his best to convey the great threat he sees in China’s aggression toward U.S. interests.

Nevermind that China might be the top supplier of goods to the United States and the country’s third-biggest customer for purchasing goods, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office at the White House. Rubio is sounding the alarm and launching a new social media campaign to fight against what he calls the false narrative coming from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and expose its true ambitions.

Every Thursday, followers of @SenRubioPress can read about the existential threat from abroad that China represents.

“Beijing is attempting to overpower, exploit and hold hostage sovereign nations,” said Rubio’s prepared statement that accompanied the announcement. “The United States must stand up against Xi Jinping’s authoritarian vision and hold the CCP accountable. Now is not the time to be silent.”

Jinping is the Chairman of the CCP, who has also been the President of the People’s Republic of China since 2013.

The release announcing Rubio’s new social media push will focus on what China has been doing in countries in the developing part of the world to undermine U.S. influence there.

There’s the Belt and Road Initiative in which China is sending trillions of dollars in infrastructure financing to countries that need it. But it’s coming at a price and Rubio’s Office calls it “predatory lending.” And there’s party-to-party training, technological exports and joint military exercises undermining U.S. influence in this part of the world, the release says.

“The CCP aims to establish global dominance and undermine the United States’ international influence, all under the guise of seemingly goodwill projects,” the release adds.

Rubio is the top Republican on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, presumably with access to the latest insights from U.S. spy agencies. What he’s seeing alarms him, he told the New York Times in March.

“It does us no good to pretend they’re not an adversary,” Rubio said in an interview with the New York Times. “Their goal is to rise at the expense of the United States.”