Newt Gingrich: US Strategy Must Recognize China Can't Be Trusted

China "cannot be trusted" and "will use its muscle whenever it can," so the United States must design a strategy that deals with both of those factors, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday.

"The first thing to do to recognize as the Hudson institute's timeline makes very clear, this [coronavirus] was caused by the Chinese dictatorship," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "They lied about it."

The first step in dealing with China would be to allow Americans to sue the Chinse dictatorship over damages caused by the spread of coronavirus, Gingrich said.

"There is no reason for us to lie about who they are and no reason for us to tolerate them running over the planet, killing several hundred thousand people and causing tens of trillions of dollars of economic pain, and then getting away with it," Gingrich said. 

Meanwhile, Gingrich said he thinks President Donald Trump is "doing the right things" in response to the coronavirus crisis, including putting governors in charge. 

"It's better not to compare us to Italy or France or Germany, or to compare us to all of Europe because we're bigger than all of Europe geographically," he said. "That means some places will take risks, other places won't, and we will learn over the next three or four months how to do it right."

But still, investments must be made now, so, if the virus comes back this fall, it can be crushed, Gingrich said.

"We can't go through the second round of this kind of mitigation by destroying the economy," he said. "It's a very, very destructive way to respond to this kind of challenge."

Gingrich added he would be "deeply opposed" to bailouts of states in response to the crisis, particularly in Illinois, where politicians have "made a total mess of their state pension fund."

"If the federal taxpayer is going to send them money, I don't think we should automatically assume business as usual," he said.

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