Tucker Carlson and Chris Christie butted heads over the weekend in a dispute regarding the war in Ukraine. On Sunday, Carlson took to Twitter to publicly challenge the former New Jersey governor, writing, “We just asked @GovChristie to sit down and explain his views on Ukraine. He refused.” This prompted Christie to explain his stance on ABC News’ “This Week” program, saying that he would have pushed back against Carlson had he been at the Iowa event last week.

Sounds like this could use a longer conversation. We just asked @GovChristie to sit down and explain his views on Ukraine. He refused. You hate to think that Chris Christie is a blustery coward who plays the tough guy with sycophants at ABC but won’t answer real questions, but… pic.twitter.com/6khc5xi3Co

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 16, 2023

Explaining his view on the conflict taking place in Ukraine, Christie said it was part of a “proxy war with China” and that Chinese investment in Russian oil was funding it. He added that by supporting Ukraine, Republicans were sending a strong message to both Russia and China, as Ukrainians “are fighting for their own freedom, their own liberty.” According to polling conducted by Christie himself as well as what he has seen when talking to voters, he believes that a majority of Republicans are in favor of supporting the country.

“I would have said, ‘You’ve always been wrong about this, Tucker, and you’re still wrong,’” Christie said. “That, in fact, what’s going on, George, is that this is a proxy war with China. The Chinese are funding the Russian war by buying Russian oil. They’re coordinating with the Iranians to provide lethal weapons to the Russian army.”

“And we can decide when to have this conflict,” he continued. “Right now the Ukrainians are willing to fight this fight for themselves if they have our support to be able to win it. If the Chinese watch us back away from Ukraine, as Tucker Carlson and others would advocate, believe me, the next move will be Taiwan.”

The debate between Carlson and Christie is part of an increasing trend of disagreement among Republican presidential candidates over foreign policy issues such as this one concerning Ukraine.