US Senate launches latest legislative effort to take on China
Lawmakers in the United States Senate have launched their latest push to counter China, including a bill that top Democrats say aims to limit the flow of technology to Beijing, stop China from starting a conflict with Taiwan, and introduce rules to to prevent US capital from going to China. to Chinese companies.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday that he will begin drafting the major legislative push that follows the passage of a bill last year that would end Washington’s competition with Beijing in semiconductors and trying to stimulate other technology.
“The Chinese government is not limiting itself in its quest to dominate the 21st century,” Schumer, a Democrat, said in a speech opening the Senate.
“And if we rested on our laurels in America, if we left the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] defeat us would have dire consequences for the democratic nations of the world.”
Schumer spoke shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced plans to reschedule his first official visit to China in February.
That trip was postponed after a Chinese high-altitude balloon was discovered — and subsequently shot down — over US soil. US officials have said the balloon was a surveillance device, a claim China denied.
“I think it’s important … that we restore lines of communication at all levels and within our government,” Blinken said in an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday, adding that he hoped the trip could be rescheduled this year .
“We are in competition with China; there is no secret about that. But we have every interest in making sure that competition does not turn into conflict,” he said.
The administration of President Joe Biden has increasingly made countering China’s growing economic and military influence a top priority. Nevertheless, Washington has denied it is seeking a “new Cold War,” despite criticism from Beijing and others of its approach.
The US president has also sought to bolster support from allies in the Asia-Pacific region, during a recent meeting with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and the Philippines at the White House.
Biden also hosted the leaders of Australia and the United Kingdom in March, with whom the US has entered into the so-called AUKUS partnership. The three nations are working to eventually equip Australia with nuclear-armed submarines.
‘Time is not on our side’
Responding to China’s growing power received relatively bipartisan support in both chambers of the US legislature – a rarity amid deep political divisions in the US.
Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example, both recently met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen.
Pelosi traveled to Taipei in 2022 and McCarthy met the Taiwanese leader in California earlier this year. More military exercises and fraught rhetoric from Beijing have fueled fears of a possible invasion.
Biden, for his part, appeared to break with a long-standing policy of strategic ambiguity last year, saying the US would defend the island in the event of an invasion. The White House later reversed the statement.
On Wednesday, Schumer said he would work with the leaders of various Senate committees to identify “threats” and draft the new bill, dubbed the China Competition Bill 2.0.
“Time is not on our side. The Xi regime works every day to catch up with and surpass the United States,” Schumer said at a news conference, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“There is no reason why our two parties cannot come together here in Congress and the Senate and send a strong message to the Chinese government that we are united in this urgent national security effort, and we are determined to maintain America’s lead.” .” in the future.”
The bill will also seek funding for additional domestic investment in key technology areas and provide a better U.S. alternative to China’s global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, Schumer said.
Some of the broad policy areas announced as part of the latest effort were included in the bill last year, but were scaled back in the final legislation known as the “Chips and Science” bill.
That legislationsigned by Biden last year, authorized more than $170 billion over five years to boost US scientific research to better compete with China and $52 billion in new subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and research.