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Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made some questionable remarks regarding China in recent years, including applauding the country for allegedly using threats of prison or organ harvesting as a means to meet its green energy goals, according to unearthed comments reviewed by Fox News Digital.
"They take this very seriously," Kennedy said in 2014, speaking of China and its clean energy agreement that year. "I don’t know whether… the guy ends up in prison with his, you know, organs harvested or what. But they are very, very dead serious."
Kennedy’s comments, made on "The Ring Of Fire" radio show in 2014, followed the Obama administration announcing in November of that year that it was aiming to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Simultaneously, China announced it was aiming to increase its non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20% by 2030, according to the White House press release at the time.
The green energy plans from the two nations were announced in the lead-up to the Paris climate agreement that was adopted by 195 nations in 2015.
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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Kennedy pledged support for the Paris agreement in his remarks on the 2014 radio show, while lauding President Barack Obama for his climate policies.
"Well, Obama’s really been extraordinary over the past couple months, as you said, he did the power plant rule, which for the first time will allow the EPA and the states to start regulating CO2," Kennedy added in his radio show remarks.
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When asked how China would go about abiding by the agreement, which was non-binding, Kennedy relayed that the workload would be divided between China’s province governors, who would then order their government employees to enforce climate policies. If the government employees failed to carry out the mission, Kennedy speculated they could face jail time or even have their "organs harvested."
China leader Xi Jinping (Xinhua/Shen Hong via Getty Images)
"The governor of that province is given his share, if there’s a national commitment like this one, the governor of that province is given his share of, you know, whatever his pro rata contribution to that advance he has to implement. He has to figure out a way to implement it within his province," he said before noting the government officials take their jobs "very seriously" and reportedly aren’t above harming or imprisoning employees who fail.
"They lose their jobs and they, you know, they get punished… and any kind of advancement they have gets stopped if they don’t fulfill these quotas. And China is already starting down this road. They’ve committed $175 billion to new solar," he continued.
Kennedy continued to laud China for its production of solar panels, which drove down prices across the world and "virtually" ended American manufacturing of solar panels.
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"They’re already manufacturing a surplus of solar panels that have flooded the rest of the world with solar panels. And… part of the sort of collateral effect of that is that all of our – the price of solar panels have dropped so low, that it put out of business virtually all the American manufacturers. But it’s created a whole industry in this country for solar installations," he said.
"When they [China] do it, it actually gets done," he added.
Solar panels in front of factories at Jinjie Industrial Park in Shenmu, China, Nov. 20, 2023. (Reuters/Colleen Howe/File Photo)
Kennedy, the son of late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, announced his run for president last year as a Democrat, before switching and becoming an Independent candidate in October. The environmental lawyer has stayed in the race as members of the Democratic and Republican parties dropped out one by one this election season, with media and voter attention now focusing on former President Trump, President Biden and Kennedy.
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Biden and Kennedy's vice presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan (Getty Images)
"All we need to do is get to 33% to win the election," Kennedy told Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo last month on his program "World Over," which airs on the EWTN Global Catholic Network.
"You don't need 50%. It's a three-way race – and it's really a five-way race," he added, alluding to independent candidate Dr. Cornel West and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, who are also running for the White House.
A Quinnipiac poll released last month found Kennedy with 16% support overall, with Trump and Biden each at 37%.
Former President Trump waves to the crowd during halftime in the Palmetto Bowl between Clemson and South Carolina at Williams Brice Stadium on Nov. 25, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Kennedy also made questionable remarks regarding China last year, arguing that the U.S. should "de-escalate" military tensions with the communist nation. The comments were slammed by experts, including a retired Army colonel, who called the remarks "dangerously naive."
"The Chinese cannot and do not want to compete with us militarily," Kennedy told X owner Elon Musk in a discussion last year. "So it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that says, ‘Oh, the Chinese want to be our enemy and have a military competition,’ they don’t. What we should be doing is de-escalating military pressure on China."
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He also argued that the U.S. should let Taiwan and China "work out that issue on their own" and that the U.S. should "back off militarily." As war rages in Ukraine and then Israel, the world has braced for China potentially invading Taiwan, which operates as an independent country separate from China.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a campaign rally at Legends Event Center on Dec. 20, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
"We think the world is on our side, but it isn’t. All we’ve got – the only people who are supporting this pugnacious, bellicose relationship with China are Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Britain, Canada," he continued in his remarks last year. "We’re pretty much alone in the world. The rest of the world is looking at us and saying, 'What the heck are you doing? Why are you trying to create a war with China? Why are you fighting them over?'"
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"They don’t want war, they want peace and they want prosperity, and that cannot happen where there’s a war," he said.
John Mills, a retired Army colonel slammed the remarks in a comment to the Epoch Times, saying Kennedy is "almost dangerously naive as to the malign behavior of China."
"I’m a little puzzled by his comments," Mills added. "He has strong opinions on the virus and the vaccine. Well, where does he think the virus came from? It’s kind of incongruent."
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Kennedy's campaign said Wednesday that the current policy with China is putting Taiwan at "greater risk," but did not address the 2014 comments on "organ harvesting."
"The experts are wrong. The current policy of confrontation with China is putting Taiwan at greater risk by making it a pawn in a geopolitical power game," the campaign said.
Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
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