In a deeply divided Congress, China seems to be one of the few issues that have caught the attention and drawn the ire of lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.
ANTONY BLINKEN WARNS CHINA: ‘IT WOULD BE A VERY SERIOUS MISTAKE’ TO ATTACK TAIWAN
Last year, Republicans made sure to tie the coronavirus pandemic to its origin of Wuhan all the way to Election Day.
In President Joe Biden’s first few months in the White House, he’s made China a key element of foreign policy goals, warning members in his first address to a joint session of Congress that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “deadly earnest” about world domination.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing a bipartisan package passed aimed at helping the United States outcompete China on a number of fronts, including science and technology, supply chains, and manufacturing.
Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican who sat on the GOP-led China task force in 2020, said he’s been in some talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and emphasized the need to work with the Biden administration and other Democrats in order to tackle the rapid rise of Beijing.
“This issue should not be partisan. It should be bipartisan,” Barr told the Washington Examiner. “This is a national security issue. I would argue the most significant national and economic security issue of our time.”
Parties seek the same goal with different pathways
How to confront China, the world’s most populous nation with nearly 1.4 billion people, has long vexed the foreign policy establishments of both parties.
The U.S.-China relationship is confronting its most daunting challenge in the 42 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties. “Current trends portend steadily worsening relations over the long term, with increasingly adverse consequences for all actors involved,” noted a 2019 Carter Center paper. “Specifically, Beijing and Washington are transitioning from a sometimes contentious yet mutually beneficial relationship to an increasingly antagonistic, mutually destructive set of interactions. The often positive and optimistic forces, interests, and beliefs that sustained bilateral ties for decades are giving way to undue pessimism, hostility, and a zero-sum mindset in almost every area of engagement.”
In Congress, though, the parties are going their separate ways on how. to confront China, at least in part.
In September, 15 House Republicans who made up the China Task Force released a report made up of findings from a monthslong investigation into the Chinese Communist Party.
The report had 83 findings and 430 policy recommendations, two-thirds of which were bipartisan goals, according to the task force. The proposals included securing medical and national security supply chains, as well as investigating human rights abuses by the CCP and providing a safe harbor for Hong Kong refugees.
Republicans addressed a letter to Biden in February, offering their assistance to China policy after the president announced the creation of a similar task force within the Defense Department.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said the country should pivot its military activity to focus on the Indo-Pacific region rather than the Middle East, but he recognizes that while Democrats and Republicans might agree on that goal, their approaches on how to get there differs.
For example, Auchincloss supports a minimum of a 10% cut to the Pentagon budget, a proposal his GOP lawmakers are unlikely to embrace.
“Republicans, I think, just think across the board we should be giving more and more money to the Department of Defense,” Auchincloss told the Washington Examiner.
“We don’t need to be spending more. We need to be spending smarter when it comes to our military,” said Auchincloss, a Marine Corps who was deployed overseas several times.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, who was a Marine Corps intelligence officer on active duty for seven years, said he’s concerned about the Biden administration’s emphasis on climate change or social issues will outweigh other areas of competition with China.
“The whole relentless push on woke identity politics and critical race theory could screw up all of our geopolitical ambitions,” Gallagher told the Washington Examiner.
Republicans wary of ‘unity’ on China
Sen. Ted Cruz said he hopes to work with Democrats and the administration when it comes to China but has concerns about some of the president’s political appointees to head U.S. agencies.
The Texas Republican alluded in particular to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s non-commitment to keep Huawei and other Chinese companies on the department’s restricted trade list. Raimondo said she plans to be aggressive on China, but reviews are still pending by the administration on how to handle the companies.
Cruz also pointed to United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s 2019 speech at a Chinese-funded “Confucius Institute” at Savannah State University, though the ambassador said she regretted her decision to participate.
Cruz is among several Senate Republicans who sponsored a bill last month, calling for transparency in Chinese-run academic institutes and language programs at U.S. universities.
“I am concerned about the pattern we have seen about Biden’s appointees,” Cruz told the Washington Examiner. “He’s appointed multiple officials who have demonstrated a willingness to be soft on China.”
Rep. Darin LaHood, a former member of the task force and co-chairman of the bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group with Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen, said he’s skeptical of the Biden administration’s efforts toward being aggressive on China. LaHood said there’s “room” for compromise in Congress on how to compete with Beijing.
The Illinois Republican added he has disagreements with Schumer’s looming China bill, which could send one of the first and strongest messages of a unified front against Beijing since Biden took office. Still, LaHood believes he’ll get some support from at least a few GOP lawmakers.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Chuck Schumer’s been one of the biggest China hawks there has been in Congress,” LaHood told the Washington Examiner. “I think they’ll be some Republicans who look at that legislation.”
