State of West Virginia secondary Archives: on Foreign Policy

Don Blankenship: Soft on China if one is related to a "Chinaperson"

Blankenship, one of three GOP leading candidates in the May 8 primary to take on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in this year's midterm elections, brought up McConnell's marriage to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in a radio interview. He said that McConnell's marriage raises "the potential for conflict of interest" in Trump's trade war with China.

"I have an issue when the father-in-law is a wealthy Chinaperson and there's a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China," Blankenship said. "I read in books that people think he's soft on China," he added.

Chao's father, James Chao, was born in China but moved to the US when Elaine was 8 years old from Taiwan.

McConnell's staff tweeted, "This candidate is as contemptible a human being as you will find."

Don Blankenship: Double headline - Already Done

Blankenship's own fiancee, Farrah Meiling Hobbs, was born in China and moved to the US in 1996

During Blankenship's trial [for corporate poisoning of a water supply from his coal mines], in an interview recorded in 2009, Blankenship said he was considering moving to China, calling the country's "dictatorial capitalism" "very effective" and saying he'd opened a bank account there.

"I'm actually considering moving to China or somewhere and being more like George Washington if I can get citizenship," he said in the 2009 interview. "I can probably get citizenship in India. I'd rather be in China."

Patrick Morrisey: America must assert its interests