In a divided U.S. House of Representatives, just emerging from a disruptive election for speaker, Republicans and Democrats gathered Tuesday to vote on the one issue that unites America’s political class: China. By a vote of 365 to 65, the House on Tuesday created a new subcommittee to assess and investigate the multidimensional political, security, technological, economic and strategic threat from China to American interests and make recommendations on how to stop it.
China hawk Mike Gallagher, Republican Representative from Wisconsin (R-WI), will chair the committee. He was previously a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Gallagher said “The greatest threat to the United States is the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP continues to commit genocide, cover up the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, steal hundreds of billions of dollars worth of intellectual property, and threaten Taiwan. The China Select Committee will push back on a bipartisan basis before it’s too late”.
The committee will have nine Republicans and seven Democrats. However, a part of the Democrats belonging to the progressive committee opposed the creation of the committee.
McCarthy’s two-sided move
Speaker-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on the House floor “This will be a bipartisan committee…it is my hope, my wish, my desire that we speak with one voice to focus on the challenges that we have. How do we bring our jobs back from China to America? How do we secure our intellectual property? How do we ensure the protection of our farmland? All of this will be discussed in committee”.
McCarthy said the threat was “too great” for them to bicker among themselves. I have heard from my colleagues on both sides that the threat posed by Communist China is serious. I fully agree. This is a topic that transcends our political parties. Creating a China subcommittee is our best way to address this.”
He said the committee would work to end US dependence on China, protect its national security, stop “intellectual property theft” and bring supply chains back together. It would also help stop China’s propaganda in schools and its lobbying efforts in Washington, as well as the CCP’s purchase of American farmland.
Agenda of committee meetings
In an article for Fox News in December, after the midterm elections, McCarthy and Gallagher said America had spent decades pushing policies to welcome China into the international system. “But since then, instead of embracing freedom or becoming a responsible stakeholder, Beijing has flouted international norms and balanced totalitarianism, aggression and ideological control.”
To win the “new Cold War” — the wording Cold War is notable because the US administration has said it does not see competition with China as a new Cold War — Republican leaders have argued that the US must respond with tough policies.We must admit that China’s ‘peaceful rise’ was pure fiction and finally face the CCP with the urgency that the threat demands.”
In listing the new committee’s priorities, McCarthy and Gallagher highlighted the importance of restoring supply chains and ending critical economic dependence on China, citing two examples that demonstrate that dependence.
“In 2021, the US imported a quarter of antibiotics from China. India, a key producer of generic drugs, depends on China for 80% of essential active pharmaceutical ingredients, proving that even seemingly friendly sources of life-saving drugs often end up going to China.
The two leaders also said the committee would work to ban US state and local pension funds from investing in China; urges Taiwan’s assistance in its self-defense and in building relations with other Indo-Pacific allies; focus on developing new energy projection weapons and supplies; promote viable alternatives to the Belt and Road Initiative; and expose, among other things, Chinese lobbying at all levels in the US and its attempts to infiltrate academic institutions.
Progressives express concern
All 65 who voted against creating the committee were Democrats, including 22 members of the progressive caucus led by Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). In a statement, the progressives expressed concern about “reckless and biased rhetoric and policies” that are contributing to the rise of “anti-Asian sentiment.”
“This should not be a committee to win a ‘new cold war,’ as the chairman-designate of the committee has previously stated. America can and must pursue our economic and strategic goals of competitiveness without a “new Cold War” and without the repression, discrimination, hatred, fear, degeneration of our political institutions, and violations of civil rights that such a “Cold War” can cause. ” said the progressives.
They also urged the committee to ensure the presence of strong Asian-American Pacific Islander and pro-diplomatic voices among the members.
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