Michigan Senate candidates take tough stances on China amid coronavirus

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As the coronavirus pandemic rages in the United States and worldwide, the candidates in one of the most competitive U.S. Senate races this year are jockeying to take a tough stance against China, the country where the outbreak began and which is accused of covering up information about the virus, exacerbating its international spread.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and his most prominent Republican challenger, John James, have both released messaging indicating that they plan to stand up to the communist nation. This comes as the U.S. intelligence community continues to investigate whether or not the coronavirus initially escaped from a lab in the city of Wuhan, where sources say it was likely being researched not as a bioweapon but as part of a Chinese endeavor to show that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal or greater than those of the U.S.

"I’ve always been tough on the Chinese government," a new ad from Peters says. "Supporting the China travel ban, demanding the truth about the spread of COVID-19, and I’m fighting to take back production of life-saving drugs and medical supplies from China, so we’ll never be held hostage."

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. (right) and his most prominent Republican challenger John James (left) (Reuters)

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Last month, James penned an op-ed that was sharply critical of China and called for the U.S. to return its supply chains stateside.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the danger of America’s supply chain being reliant upon other nations, notably communist China, for the critical goods and services we need," James wrote for Fox News.

He continued: "No longer can we dangerously permit communist China’s – or any country’s – predatory trade practices, currency manipulation, dumping, intellectual property theft, espionage, cyber and information warfare and worse to continue their assault on our national prosperity and, yes, security."

James wrote a separate piece for The Detroit News in March, titled "Let's social distance from China's diseased regime."

Michigan is a Rust-Belt state that's been hit hard by the decline in American manufacturing. That, and building public opinion against China during the coronavirus pandemic, could be why Peters and James are betting anti-China messaging will work with the state's voters. Michigan is one of the swing states that went for President Trump by thin margins in the 2016 election, helping deliver him the presidency.

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Peters has been engaging in anti-China tough talk on and off since he entered office, according to his Twitter feed.

He is also on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which he joined in 2015, saying that he would "work to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices and currency manipulation, so that American companies and American workers can compete on a level playing field."

Peters, however, has attended just two of 18 hearings held by the commission since he joined it, according to the attendance notes contained within summaries of the hearings posted online. Many of the members of the commission, however, had spotty attendance at the commission's hearings, with Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the two members who appear to most consistently be present at the meetings.

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Peters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additionally, Peters' messaging in 2020 has been mixed on China.

"We saw that in China, outside of Hubei province, a lot of the factories continued to work," Peters said, praising the Chinese response to the virus on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in March. "They separated their employees, they had partitions, they found ways to continue to keep some of the economy going in other parts of the country that weren't impacted as much as it was in Hubei. We've got to be doing that same kind of thing here. Thinking strategically on dealing with the disease, but also maintaining our economy."

He also in February praised "aggressive" Chinese actions to contain the virus in a conversation with Fox News' Neil Cavuto.

By April, Peters had changed his tune on China, joining two Republican senators in calling for the Trump administration to ensure businesses backed by the Chinese government didn't receive coronavirus stimulus funds in a letter, and sending a tweet lamenting China's control of medical supply chains.

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James, meanwhile, does not appear to have released any campaign messaging on China ahead of his March op-ed.

Movements to hold China accountable for the coronavirus have been simmering since it was first alleged that the communist nation covered up the virus' spread. At least seven private lawsuits have been filed against China in federal court and Missouri has filed its own lawsuit. Then this week, a coalition of 18 state attorneys general asked Congress to hold hearings investigating China's handling of the coronavirus -- proceedings they hoped would gather facts that could potentially inform lawsuits or other actions against China.

"These layers of deceit began last year with the censoring of Chinese health officials and the muzzling of Taiwanese complaints," the letter sent by the attorneys general read. "The cover-up continued with the expulsion of media outlets and the proliferation of Chinese propaganda targeting the Western world."