DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis: "Nikki Haley welcomed them into South Carolina, gave them land near a military base, wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were. In Florida, I banned China from buying land."

MIAMI, Fla. – During the third Republican presidential primary debate tonight, Ron DeSantis said:

" We have to have the ability to back up a strategy of denial of President Xi's ambitions. And if China's able to be the world's leading superpower that will affect you and your family in ways that are going to be very bad. They will export authoritarianism all around the world as the cost of doing business. They'll impose things like social credit scores and internet monitoring. So this is to this generation, what the Soviet Union was to the post World War 2 generation. I've already released a plan. We're going to get to 355 ships at the end of the first term. 385 ships at the end of the second term, but we're going to have a path to 600 ships over the next 20 years. I think the future of freedom is going to be determined in the Indo-Pacific. We have a strategy - not just military, but decoupling from the economy and fighting them here at home with their cultural - Ambassador Haley said somehow I wasn't doing- She welcomed them into South Carolina. Gave them land near a military base. Wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were. That was like their number one way to do economic development. In Florida, I banned China from buying land in this state. and we kicked out - their universities - And we kicked the Confucius Institutes out of our universities. We've recognized the threat, and we've acted swiftly and decisively."

Watch HERE.