U.S. Rep. Tom Reed

While the tension between Russia and the rest of the world continues to grow due to the invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Rep. Tom Reed is warning about China getting involved as well.

“China is making checkmate moves, if not already declared checkmate on the U.S. and it’s something I’m very concerned about,” Reed said. “I believe China does believe it has cornered the U.S. in a checkmate position and that China is going to emerge in a very short order as the world leader of the world when it comes to its economic might, military investments and its effort to divide America and bring America to a second class nation.”

Reed made the comments Wednesday during his weekly telephone conference with media in the 23rd District, including The Post-Journal and OBSERVER.

The phone conference was held shortly after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Congress and the nation. Reed called the video that was played during the address heartbreaking. “To see these videos go out, the pictures of women and children being decimated and killed, it just reminds me that evil exists in the world,” he said.

Reed noted that it appears Saudi Arabia is going to settle its oil sales up in the Chinese dollar. “I will tell you that is very concerning. These are all moves that are going to change the world as we know it for the foreseeable future and its time for America to awaken, for us as Americans to recognize that China and its role as the world’s superpower that it imagined and it envisioned being today, it’s going to be a much different world that we have grown accustomed to in the United States of America,” he said.

Reed wants to see America to become more united. “We need to emerge out of this weakness that we now find ourselves in America because we are divided politically, we are $30 trillion in national debt, (and) the military forces in China and others are growing exponentially while ours essentially stays in a similar position,” he said. “These all add up to a situation that should concern all of us. It’s time for us to come together as Americans. It’s time for us to unite that American innovation spirit to grow the economy, to get our fiscal house in order and to start on the path where all of these things that are weakening us and dividing us are things of history and that we are united as we go forward.”

During questions, Reed was asked about Zelenskyy’s request for a no fly zone. He said while he has concerns about that, we shouldn’t dismiss the concept outright. “We cannot take any tools off the table when it comes to dealing with this situation in Ukraine,” he said. “When it comes to things like fly zones, when it comes to things like even men and women, American military having to be put in potential for harm’s way, to me that’s the last resort and it is not something I am advocating for but it is something that needs to be kept in the toolbox so that we can keep our enemies guessing.”

Reed also doesn’t want to negotiate with Russia as long as the bombing is taking place.

“When you’re killing women and children you are not going to be on the right side of history, and (Russian President Vlavimir) Putin, you should stop. … Once Putin stops the military aggressiveness, then we can have a conversation on how we’re going to resolve it. When he’s bombing women and children, it’s just unacceptable that we will negotiate with them,” he said.