It’s the second week of the second Trump presidency, and Mike Pence has some concerns.
Coming off a trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the former vice president is more convinced than ever of the need for the U.S. to stand strong against China and bolster Taiwan’s defenses.
"There seems to be this suggestion on both sides of a certain thawing in relations, which in principle I welcome, but not compromising on principles," he told a small group of reporters at the Advancing American Freedom office in Washington, D.C.
And in the new Trump 2.0, Pence is convinced that his brand of neoconservatism is not dead, at least not yet.
"There have been voices of isolationism that have been emerging in our party of late," he said. "I’m not yet convinced that they represent the president's views."
The former vice president does not believe the 2024 election was a referendum on interventionist policy.
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"I don't think people were voting for isolationism in 2024."
But Pence refused to endorse President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Pence and Trump fell out after the January 6th Capitol riot, and Trump, in turn, recently suggested that he wouldn't hire anyone who had worked for his former second-in-command.
"There are loud voices, both inside and outside the administration that are calling on America to pull back from, whether it be Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific, and even some are calling for us to pull back on our longstanding support for Israel," Pence went on.
"One of the things we want to be, Advancing American Freedom and whatever remains of my bully pulpit, is to be an anchor to windward for traditional conservatism within the Republican Party."
In Hong Kong, Pence stood in front of 2,000 people and called for authorities to release Jimmy Lai, an imprisoned media mogul and pro-democracy activist, to the audible gasps of the crowd.
Back at home, he’s calling on Trump to "reconsider" the U.S.-Nippon Steel merger that Biden stopped.
He is also worried his former boss does not fully grasp the dangers of TikTok, after Trump’s newfound embrace of the video-sharing platform where he enjoys 15 million followers. He signed an executive order this week giving TikTok another 75 days in operation after Congress passed a law last year forcing them to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance or face a ban in the U.S.
"I am concerned that the administration doesn't fully appreciate the issues that animated the need for divestment," said Pence.
"People that are in their 20s and 30s today could be in the Senate – in the House in 10 years. The fact that the Chinese Communist Party is collecting data on Americans, whatever their age or experience is, is not something to be dismissed."
The former vice president said that China is trying to infiltrate public opinion in Taiwan ahead of a possible invasion to try to take over the island.
"The CCP thinks the principal value of TikTok is the ability to impact public opinion at a critical moment," he said. "When I met with leadership in Taiwan, on TikTok they said, in effect, they're dealing with an onslaught of social media propaganda coming out of China into Taiwan, trying to set the stage for whatever action, economic, political or hard power may be coming their way."
It was the first Trump administration that made tough-on-China policies go mainstream, according to Pence.
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"I am convinced that our administration changed the national consensus on China," he said. "I would point out that President Biden never undid the $250 billion in tariffs that we imposed."
Pence said he is also worried about Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman-turned Republican whom Trump has nominated to be his director of national intelligence.
She has "at times over the last two years, been an apologist for Putin. And, you know, has a history of being critical of the use of American power," said Pence.
"I think, if memory serves, she actually criticized when we took out [top Iranian general] Qassem Soleimani."
Trump suggested that he might want to sit down with Iran and work on a new nuclear deal on Thursday. But Pence said he trusts the new administration, particularly officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz, not to get taken for a ride by Iran.
"The first order of business is to go back to isolating around economically, and diplomatically, and making it clear that different from the Iran nuclear deal there, there would have to be a sea change in any policy regarding nuclear weapons or the state of Israel."
"I trust that the administration will be very cautious in any of those interactions."
Pence's group has already come out with a campaign in opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
To do that, the former vice president said he would be anything but retired from public life. He plans to continue to advocate for increasing defense spending – 5% of GDP is his current goal – and to use his voice to convince elected officials to stand strong with America's friends and boost deterrent measures to prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
The U.S. has a longstanding policy of ambiguity when it comes to whether it would actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground with Taiwan if China were to invade. Even in private life, Pence isn't ready to say whether that would be the right move.
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"There's an old saying, 'Never say what you'll never do,'" he said.
"We ought to have one hand extended in friendship in exchange, and the other hand resting comfortably on the holster of the arsenal of democracy."
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