‘I don’t want to be the apple of Vladimir Putin’s eye’: Christie breaks with GOP rivals on foreign policy

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Saturday drew a stark foreign policy contrast with rivals for the GOP nomination who have proposed loosening current American commitments in Ukraine and Taiwan in the face of aggression from Russia and China.

Speaking to Erick Erickson at an Atlanta-area conference on Saturday morning, Christie went deep on his foreign policy vision, saying the U.S. must push back against authoritarian leaders and uphold democratic rights and norms in a broad preview of what foreign policy in his administration would look like.

“We have folks in this race who have called Vladimir Putin brilliant, a great leader," Christie said. "Just yesterday, Donald Trump called him that he was the apple of Putin’s eye. I have to tell you the truth: I don't want to be the apple of Vladimir Putin’s eye.”

“A Christie administration would stand up for our friends around the world and work with them,” he added.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy recently began touting an eyebrow-raising Taiwan strategy that would entail shrinking current U.S. commitments to the island once America gains domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Christie appeared to hit back at such plans in his Saturday remarks.

“We need to stand up for people who want freedom,” Christie said. “And if we let the Chinese do that kind of domination game, because we're unprepared or unwilling to deter them, then they will not stop there. And we've seen this act before.”

Christie’s comments speak toward the wing of the Republican Party that supports America’s diplomatic role abroad, and appear to align him with competitor Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations who has brandished her foreign policy expertise in the GOP race.

At the beginning of August, Christie made a surprise trip to Ukraine, touring several war-torn areas and meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But in the former governor’s mind, the biggest foreign adversary to the U.S. is not Russia, but China.

“We're not looking at a land war in Russia anymore. The Russian army has shown their inability to beat Ukraine,” Christie said. “I don't think they're looking to pick a fight with us tomorrow. It's China.”

Christie proposed deploying nuclear submarines around China to help act as a deterrent, but also warned that the U.S. needed to modernize its military to compete effectively in the future — especially the Navy and the Air Force — citing former President Ronald Reagan's efforts to do so at the height of the Cold War.