EXCLUSIVE: Ron DeSantis campaign calls Nikki Haley a ‘China liberal’ as he ramps up attacks on rival with video of her praising and defending Beijing

Ron DeSantis’ campaign is going all-in on “pro-China liberal” Nikki Haley, as the former UN ambassador closes the gap between second and third place in recent polls.

In a new ad, exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, DeSantis’ team claims his 2024 rival is going soft on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the regime continues to pose a growing threat to the US.

The one-minute attack video from DeSantis War Room combines clips of comments made by Haley that are then compared to statements made by President Joe Biden regarding China.

“We already have a pro-China liberal in the White House. We don’t need another one in Nikki Haley,” DeSantis spokeswoman Carly Atchison said in a statement about the ad to DailyMail.com.

Haley’s campaign hit back at the attack ad, noting that DeSantis’ criticism is hypocritical and baseless attacks to “revive” his moribund campaign.

“Ron DeSantis is aggressively recruiting Chinese companies and investments to Florida,” a campaign spokesperson told DailyMail.com. “He even searched the Florida government website for evidence of his recruitment. He signed a multi-million contract with a Chinese aircraft company and allowed a sanctioned Chinese-owned company to expand near a military base.”

“Ron DeSantis is lying about his record because he is losing, and he will say anything to try to revive his corpse of a campaign,” they added.

“We already have a pro-China liberal in the White House. We don’t need another one in Nikki Haley,” DeSantis spokeswoman Carly Atchison told DailyMail.com. Pictured: Haley and DeSantis speaking over each other during the third Republican presidential primary debate in Miami, Florida

The US in 2020 began imposing sanctions on the Chinese company AVIC, which makes planes, helicopters and drones for The People’s Liberation Army. Two years later, DeSantis did not publicly speak to Cirrus, a subsidiary of AVIC, opened two locations in Central Florida.

Meanwhile, Chinese investment in South Carolina — one of the four early primary states — more than doubled from $308 million in 2011 to nearly $670 million in 2015, when Haley was governor of the state, the video from DeSantis’ campaign shows. highlights.

Chinese investment in South Carolina — one of the four early primary states — more than doubled from $308 million in 2011 to nearly $670 million in 2015, when Haley was governor of the state, the video from DeSantis’ campaign shows.

The one-minute clip notes that Haley recruited these Chinese companies to do business in South Carolina.

She served as governor of Palmetto State from January 2011 to January 2017.

Additionally, Haley called China a “friend” during her governor years in a 2014 letter, saying she was “grateful” for the CCP’s “contributions on the economic front.”

In a letter to then-Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai on December 30, 2014, Haley thanked the diplomat for congratulating her on her re-election.

Tiankai had written in his letter to Haley that he is “pleased to see that overall ties between China and South Carolina have grown rapidly in recent years.”

When a voter asked him about Chinese land purchases in South Carolina, Haley said, “Well, I’ll tell you – don’t believe what you read on the internet,” according to an excerpt in DeSantis’ attack ad.

DeSantis joins his Republican 2024 competitors in recently acknowledging and acknowledging during the primary debate that the next biggest global threat will come from China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently in San Francisco, California for the APEC Summit, where he will meet President Joe Biden. DeSantis’ ad combines comments Haley made about China with similar statements from Biden

However, the recent increase in attacks on Haley comes at a time when polls show she has closed the gap with DeSantis as the primary field narrows, with just two months until Iowa’s first caucuses in the country.

A Des Moines Register poll in Iowa earlier this month showed DeSantis and Haley tied for second with 16 percent each, which is still as much as 27 points behind front-runner former President Donald Trump.

“You look at their (Chinese) infrastructure – they are all over the world now and they want to keep doing that so they have a stronghold. And what we need to do is say, ‘That’s fine,'” Haley says in a clip in DeSantis’ attack ad.

This is followed by a segment in which President Biden says: “We are not trying to decouple from China.”

Haley also became the target of attacks from biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy last week during the third debate in Miami, Florida, as it appears the stage next month will include only DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy.

However, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie still has plenty of time to meet voting requirements for the Alabama debate on December 6.