SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney pledged to restore American jobs and economic prosperity by getting tough on China. In a statement Thursday -- setting the tone for his running mate's debate with Vice President Joe Biden -- Romney vowed to designate China a "currency manipulator" the first day after his inauguration, something no administration has done in nearly two decades. During his tenure at Bain Capital, Romney outsourced a staggering number of U.S. jobs to economically depressed countries, with China taking the lion's share of the work. In 1992, Bain closed down the Holson Burnes plant in South Carolina and offshored more than 75 percent of its manufacturing. Ten years later, Romney helped implement an internal IT system for state offices in Massachusetts by ditching pricey New England contractors for resources in China. But Romney now believes China has gotten greedy, enabled by the current administration's leniency. "What we have seen from the Obama administration has been acquiescence to China," Romney said of the president's "pivot" to Asia. To show voters his commitment to U.S. interests, Romney will fight to prevent companies from offshoring labor to China by encouraging them to consider outsourcing to India, Eastern Europe and Mexico instead.

Critics have attacked Romney's aggressive stance toward China as a potentially disastrous foreign policy blunder.

Political and economic analysts warned against imposing tariffs on China as punishment for unfairly driving down the price of products. "If that came to pass, we'd end up in a trade war with the fastest-growing base of consumers for American exports," pundit Ferrel Michaels cautioned.

The United States has also been courting China's influence to help temper international hotbeds such as Iran and North Korea. But Romney's denouncement of the Asian superpower runs a high risk of sabotaging those efforts -- a particularly perilous course to embark on considering the territorial dispute raging in the South China Sea.

Romney's camp dismissed the concerns, accusing President Obama's submissive position on China as the cause for widespread worry throughout the international community.

"Just look at the chilly reception Mitt received during his goodwill visits to London and Israel," a top Romney aide said. "Look at how the people of Palestine impugned him for no reason at all. Clearly, Obama's policies abroad have made all Americans look bad. No wonder Mitt can't get a break with an overseas audience. But really, this issue has nothing to do with foreign policy -- that's a red herring being dangled by Obama to distract from the real issue of the economy."

Romney insists he has "given not a single thought" to the impact his proposed policies would have internationally. "This is about the American workforce, the American economy and the American dream," he stressed.

After his surprise victory during the first presidential debate, Romney reemerged on the campaign trail with renewed vigor and a renewed focus on criticizing Obama's mishandling of the economy.

"President Obama has spent an awful lot of his time talking about jobs being sent to China," Romney added. "Well, that's not my plan. Does [Obama] have any idea how expensive it would be to relocate American workers to other countries...on the salaries we pay them? Americans won't work for 30 cents on the dollar, and they expect breaks and basic human rights. The president's scheme to offshore jobs to China would only further gut the economy he's already eviscerated."

With an incredulous tone, Romney reminded his supporters how "Barack Obama was handed one of the largest budget surpluses in history by his predecessor, President Bill Clinton; and in four short years, he squandered it away. Now we have a $16 trillion national debt. And this man calls me out of touch?"

The only means for restoring America's superiority, according to Romney, requires a return to Reagan-era supply-side economics, which built the strongest U.S. economy in recorded history without ever raising taxes on the middle class.

"We need a real return to Reagan," Romney said. "The 1980s were a time of prosperity and peace. America was not plagued by recession, joblessness, divisive politics, ridiculous cold wars against ideological concepts and not real enemies, and the notion of expanding government was laughable."

But to bring the country back to this idyllic time, businesses would need to flourish through unprecedented tax breaks and incentives.

"We must be realistic," Romney urged. "If we start creating jobs right now and persuade businesses to undertake massive hiring sprees, we'll be creating an unsustainable model that will lead to higher jobless rates next year. With all those people collecting unemployment, the tax system would collapse. The country would stagnate for decades to come. That's why we need to outsource labor in the short term as a stimulus. But not to China. We can get better, whiter, cheaper, more U.S. friendly talent in Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and especially Mexico."

Mexico is familiar territory to Mitt Romney and, he claimed, most U.S. households.

"Mexico is a neighbor. Mexico is deeply ingrained in our own culture and heritage. What better place to outsource?" Romney asked. "We eat Mexican food. We vacation in Mexican resorts. And according to the last census, most Americans now speak Spanish as their first language. Besides, what typical American household doesn't have a Mexican nanny, housekeeping staff and landscapers? Mr. Obama, a man who truly is out of touch with the people, doesn't understand this."

(c) 2012. See disclaimers.