(Bloomberg) — The House set up a new select committee Tuesday to come up with ways the US can counter China’s growing economic and strategic power, reflecting the broad sentiment in Congress for taking a confrontational approach in dealing with the world’s second largest economy.
(Bloomberg) — The House set up a new select committee Tuesday to come up with ways the US can counter China’s growing economic and strategic power, reflecting the broad sentiment in Congress for taking a confrontational approach in dealing with the world’s second largest economy.
The overwhelming 365-65 bipartisan vote marked a rare area of agreement between Republicans and Democrats at the start of divided government in Washington.
The 16-member panel will be chaired by Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, an ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s who introduced legislation last year to ban TikTok, the social media network owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing that “we hope relevant US politicians view China and China-US relations in an objective and reasonable manner.”
They should also take steps to build ties between the nations, he said.
Gallagher told Bloomberg last year the committee would scrutinize US investments in China, including by tax-advantaged pension funds, amid growing concerns about Taiwan and other issues.
While it won’t have legislative jurisdiction, it’s tasked with making policy recommendations to other committees by the end of the year. Proposing ways to reduce economic dependence on China for products like pharmaceuticals and rare earth minerals are also part of the plans.
“There is bipartisan consensus that the era of trusting Communist China is over,” McCarthy and Gallagher wrote in a Fox News op-ed discussing the committee last month. McCarthy has called China “the greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime.”
For decades, the US welcomed China into the international system but in return “China has exported oppression, aggression and anti-Americanism,” McCarthy said just before the vote. “Today the power of its military and economy are growing at the expense of freedom and democracy worldwide.”
McCarthy said his hope is for both parties to be able to speak with one voice about China.
“You have my word and my commitment, this is not a partisan committee,” he said. “The threat is too great for us to bicker with ourselves.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries voted for the select committee, which could complement bipartisan efforts in the Democrat-led Senate.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner told Bloomberg last year China is the one area with the most bipartisan support, noting a new law subsidizing US production of semiconductors as one example. He also pointed to other emerging areas of technology as potentially ripe for legislating.
Congress banned TikTok from government devices in the year-end omnibus bill last year, and Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi sent ESPN a letter Monday questioning its decision to accept TikTok as a sponsor.
–With assistance from Philip Glamann.
(Updates with comment from China’s Foreign Ministry.)
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