Nikki Haley to deliver major foreign policy speech on China, as Beijing ramps up aggression

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FIRST ON FOX: Former U.N. ambassador and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley will deliver a major foreign policy speech this week on the future of U.S.-China policy amid a number of signs of growing aggression from the communist regime.

Haley, a prominent China hawk who has lambasted the Biden administration's approach to the U.S. foe, will speak at the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, Fox News Digital has learned.

Haley has consistently called for a strong stance against Beijing for years, including as U.N. ambassador when she challenged Chinese officials directly. She has also accused President Biden of weakness toward China -- recently accusing him of having "utterly failed in his dealings with China -- militarily, economically and diplomatically."

Haley’s campaign has noted her foreign policy experience and her history of pushing for a tougher stance against China and for greater self-reliance from the U.S. Haley has previously called for a boycott of the Olympics in Beijing, urged the U.S. to ban TikTok, and called for the U.S. to skip a major World Health Organization meeting if Taiwan was excluded. She has also taken aim at corporations for their hypocrisy over China's human rights records.

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Nikki Haley speaks to hometown supporters during a campaign rally at The Grove in Lexington County, South Carolina, on Thursday, April 6, 2023. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

"Communist China is the greatest threat to American security and prosperity today, by far. Nikki Haley has the toughness, experience, and know-how to take on China, just like she did at the United Nations," Haley campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso said in a statement.

In the years since she left Turtle Bay in 2018, she has made a number of speeches and penned op-eds calling for greater support for Taiwan, calling out corporations who rub soldiers with China, and attempting to alert the public to the extent of the threat posed by China.

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Following the speech, Haley will hold a discussion with AEI executives Zack Cooper and Robert Doar, as part of the "A New China Playbook," series to discuss how the U.S. can maintain an edge over China with strengthening alliances in the region. 

The speech comes after continued Chinese aggression against Taiwan, raising fears of a potential invasion of the country it sees as a breakaway province, while also posting militaristic propaganda online. Meanwhile, reports emerged this month that China had secured an agreement with Cuba to build a spy base near the U.S. 

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The administration disputed the report, but later confirmed that China has been working to increase its surveillance in Cuba -- calling it an "ongoing issue" that predates the Biden administration.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently visiting China and on Monday expressed "deep concerns" about "provocative" actions taken by China in recent years. His visit was scheduled for earlier this year, but was postponed when the Chinese sparked a major incidental incident by flying a spy balloon over the U.S.

On Saturday, Biden suggested that the incident was more accidental and "embarrassing" for the Chinese.

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"China has some legitimate difficulties unrelated to the United States, and I think one of the things that balloon caused was not so much that it got shot down, but I don't think the leadership knew where it was, knew what it was in it and what was going on," he said.

"I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional," he said.