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China: The Greatest Threat

China may, or may not have, deliberately unleashed the deadly virus consuming the world’s attention and resources, but what is certain is that the Chinese Communist leadership failed to consider its impact on America’s attitude toward China. Washington is “woke.” Three months ago Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called China “the greatest long-term threat” to the economic vitality and national security of the United States. This week leading Republican legislators introduced a 25-page bill into the US Congress called the China Task Force Act. It contains 137 key China-related recommendations. The bill, introduced by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), aims to stop a US policy of accommodation toward China.

“For more than 40 years, we have seen China’s ruthless rise in power result in attacks on freedom and human rights around the world. And for far too long the United States’ policy of accommodation, as underscored by the Obama-Biden administration, has only continued to enable the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal dictatorship,” according to a statement released by Rep. McCarthy. He also called on Congressional Democrats to join the effort to call out and hold China accountable. The bill states that “The United States’ goal should be the end of the CCP’s monopoly on power, rather than indefinite coexistence with a fundamentally hostile communist state.” China is sure to react negatively to this legislation is given the CCP leadership’s announced intent to remake the world ideological in its image. 

The origin of the US legislation goes back to at least last spring when Congress began an organized investigation into China’s maleficent behavior. In May a 15-member group in Congress formed the China Task Force with the goal of examining Chinese human rights abuses against its domestic minorities, influence operations in the US, attempts to steal American technology, threats to US national security, and China’s role in the global spread of the COVID-19 virus, among other issues. Originally intended as a bipartisan committee, all Congressional Democrats originally involved dropped out in an effort to avoid criticizing China. The Committee continued its work with the resulting legislative measure introduced this week. It includes recommendations such as moving critical industrial chains back home, modernizing the U.S. military, and sanctioning the regime for its human rights violations.

In a press release Tuesday, October 20, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) announced that the resolution…

  1. Recognizes that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) currently poses the greatest foreign threat to United States peace, security, and stability;
  2. Recognizes that the PRC, regardless of future leadership, will likely continue to be a major rival of the United States in the coming decades, due to the enormous cumulative size and scale of its population, economy, and military capabilities; and
  3. Supports the Trump administration’s overall strategic approach to the PRC, grounded in principled realism and firm-but-measured competitive engagement whenever United States national interests are at stake, that has been outlined in sources including but not limited to: 
    1. the United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China (May 2020)
    2. the National Defense Strategy of the United States of America (October 2018);
    3. the National Cyber Strategy of the United States of America (September 2018);
    4. the National Security Strategy of the United States of America (December 2017).
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The resolution points out that China has maintained a massive trade surplus over the United States by manipulating its currency and maintaining unreasonably high tariffs, among other tactics. It also acknowledges that China routinely pressures US companies entering its market to cede their intellectual property and market licensing rights and frequently carries out cyberattacks on United States companies to steal trade secrets or other sensitive information it cannot obtain by other means.

Cyberattacks originating from China target not only private sector firms in the US but also directly threaten US Government and defense operations, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and American citizens. Chinese has access to the personal data of most US citizens.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Photo: Chinese naval ships (China Defense Ministry)