Rick Scott: We Need to Arm Taiwan Now, Can't Rely on China 'For Anything'

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) argued that the United States should start arming Taiwan now the same way we should have done with Ukraine and we can’t rely on China for goods in order to avoid dependency on China similar to the dependency the world has on Russian oil.

Scott said, “I think with Taiwan, we have to be very clear, we will defend Taiwan. That’s number one…and I have a bill for that. Number two, is we’re going to give them all the resources they need. Now, think about how much money we’re going to spend now to help Ukraine. If we had done this before — I mean, we have a $10 billion package. If we gave them the $10 billion worth of aid before, what’s the chance that Putin would have gone in? He wouldn’t have. Because he would say, I can’t win that war. Alright, we’ve got to do — act the same way with Taiwan, do it now. Don’t wait.”

He continued, “And then, every American has to say to themselves, why do we want to put ourselves in a position to be dependent on China, why do that? We can’t rely on them for anything, for pharmaceuticals, for anything. We’ve got to figure out how to get our economy, our manufacturing going in this country and with our allies. Stop buying — every opportunity you can, do American, do it with our allies. We’ve got to figure this out so we’re not dependent on them. Because that’s the position we’re in right now. People are dependent on Russian oil. I mean, you could see this coming.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett