The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he’s worried that miscalculations between China and the US risk escalating to war, and wants to counter “irresponsible saber-rattling.”
(Bloomberg) — The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he’s worried that miscalculations between China and the US risk escalating to war, and wants to counter “irresponsible saber-rattling.”
Jim Himes of Connecticut told reporters and editors at Bloomberg News Tuesday he wants to travel to China with other lawmakers to foster more understanding between the world’s two largest economies and help defuse tensions with Beijing over Taiwan and other issues.
“I do hear things that scare me because I hear about efforts that are not publicized by both countries to go after each other,” Himes said. “And those scare me because, you know, we misunderstand our way into war more often than not.”
Himes, who last week wrote a Connecticut Post column calling for a new approach to China, said the Chinese and the US have mutual interests in China’s “economic miracle” that has pulled hundreds of millions out of poverty.
“I’d love to be able to say, ‘Really, you want to throw that all away for some mad nationalist vision?’” he said he would tell the Chinese government.
Himes said he also opposed Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ talk of decoupling the US from China. Doing so, he warned, would devastate the US economy, cause massive inflation and likely send interest rates even higher.
Himes said he would also communicate issues of differences with China, like the oppression of the Uighur population or the theft of US intellectual property.
“I don’t want to be portrayed as a China dove or whatever,” he said. But he also said he wants to communicate a desire for China to develop and buy products from the US.
Himes said he was “really worried” about four or five months ago, when he felt members of both parties were engaging in irresponsible rhetoric. Himes brought up that he won his seat in 2008 amid backlash to the Iraq war, which he also said was caused by misunderstandings.
He pointed to US concerns about the Chinese installing a listening post in Cuba as a concern, but pointed out China has its own concerns with US troops stationed in countries like Japan and the Philippines.
“I’m not saying there’s an equivalence there. I’m just saying, ‘Put yourself in their shoes so that you can understand how they think about us.’ And that all gets shunted aside. And when they all get shunted aside, it really increases the probability of a misunderstanding or a mistake.”
Crypto ‘Baloney’
Himes also has played a key role on the House Financial Services Committee as a prominent Democratic backer last week of two crypto bills providing a regulatory framework sought by the industry, and legislation governing the regulation of so-called stable coins.
“Any number of times over the course of the last couple of weeks, I asked myself, ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’” Himes said of the crypto bills, given he doesn’t think the Democratic-led Senate will act and is skeptical crypto will amount to much.
“The use case is baloney,” he said, predicting few would use crypto for regular retail transactions, though he allowed for the possibility something useful will come of it.
A former Goldman Sachs banker, Himes said Chairman Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, called him daily and accepted all of his requests for changes.
“I just wanted to show that, Jesus, we can actually get some bipartisan stuff done,” he said.
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