On Thursday December 28th, Texas Senator Cornyn delivered remarks to the senate floor hearing advocating more money for war through the NDAA. He used aggression and hate towards China as the excuse to fund war. Instead of funding the needs of the people in the US and finding ways to cooperate with China, Senator Cornyn is looking to pour more money into the war machine. War is not the answer to human rights needs, the opposite is true. Add your name to this letter so we can remind Senator Cornyn that in order to address human rights issues we first need peace and respectful cooperation. #ChinaIsNotOurEnemy
Senator Cornyn,
You addressed the costs of COVID in your address to the Senate this week: a horrific number of lives and economic security for the people. You then pivoted to the dangers looming out in the world, suggesting that one of those is China. You suggested that we need to be “prepared for whatever comes at us”. Covid came at us and we were not prepared.
We do not need more funds in the NDAA, we need more of those funds moved to the needs of the people. Your warmongering with China will not help working people in the United States or China. We cannot continue to regard China as our enemy and use this as a justification to continuously increase the Pentagon budget. We cannot address human rights by pouring more and more money into war-- as that is most counterintuitive. The concerns you raised during the remainder of your remarks regarding U.S.-China relations will require peace and cooperation. It certainly does not require arguing for more money that will go towards weapons and war, especially towards the only Department in the U.S. government that cannot pass an independent audit. Instead we should be putting our time and efforts towards the needs of the people and the planet. Don't use China to justify more weapons and destruction. If you really care about human rights you should be focused on fostering a relationship based on cooperation with China.
As a member of the US Senate representing 1.46 million Asians in your state, you should know that hate mongering towards China has already increased racism and hate crimes towards Asians, which have grown by 800% since the start of the pandemic. 5% of the Texas population is Asian and it continues to grow. You need to care for your constituents first. The first casualty of war and militarism are human rights.
We hope that you will take our concerns into consideration and begin advocating for peaceful relations with China.
Onwards to Peace,
CODEPINK and the undersigned