Paul, Bush: Don’t cancel Chinese state visit

Republicans split at Wednesday’s presidential debate over whether President Obama should call off a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jingping amid concerns over cyberattacks on U.S. interests.

CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked the candidates to respond to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s call to cancel the visit.

But both Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) said the visit should go forward.

Paul suggested slighting Beijing by canceling would be “rash.”

{mosads}“Think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War,” Paul said, referring to an earlier remark from businesswoman Carly Fiorina that the U.S. should sever ties with Russia for being “a bad actor.”

“We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War, which was much more significant than where we are now,” Paul said. “It doesn’t mean we give them a free pass. The same goes for China.”

Bush agreed that the visit should take place, but he said  the U.S. should take a more aggressive approach in response to Chinese hacks.

“We need to be strong against China,” Bush said. “We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cybersecurity to send a deterrent signal to China. There’s many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That’s not going to change anything.”

Bush’s comments echo his cybersecurity policy proposal, released Monday.

“We must hold to account those who are stealing our nation’s intellectual capital,” Bush wrote in his cyber plan. “Efforts to expose, prosecute, and in some cases retaliate against these actors will raise the cost of conducting such attacks and increase deterrence of future attacks.”

Walker though doubled down on his claims that it would be inappropriate to honor the Chinese president with a formal state visit in light of the devastating hack on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), believed to have originated in Beijing.

“We why would we an official state visit to a country that’s been involved in a massive cyberattack against the United States?” Walker asked. “That’s not just a visit, that’s a 21-gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. If we’re going to send a message to them, wouldn’t this be the time?”

The Obama administration has come under increasing pressure to retaliate against China for the OPM hack and other intrusions on major American companies and the federal government. Obama hinted Wednesday his administration is prepared to take offensive action, which could include economic sanctions rumored to be under discussion.

“We are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the Chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset,” he said during a speech to the Business Roundtable in Washington. “We are prepared to take some countervailing actions to get their attention.”

Xi is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Sept. 25.