Congress zeroes in on China — as economic and security threats loom

Divisive debates about how to address the nation's debt limit or tackle border security have dominated the first few months of a divided Congress. But many Republicans and Democrats agree that focusing on the U.S. - China relationship needs to be a top priority.

The newly created House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party launches its first hearing in prime time on Tuesday. Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger are expected to testify. Both worked in Former President Donald Trump's administration. Tong Yi, a human rights activist and Scott Paul, the head of the Alliance for American Manufacturing are also scheduled to appear.

Wisconsin GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, who chairs the panel, told NPR's Steve Inskeep ahead of the hearing "a Chinese spy balloon drifting over the country and circling our nuclear ICBM facilities has a way of sort of bringing the threat close to home."

Beyond TikTok - creating a narrative about the challenge posed by China

Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the panel, says his constituents often reach out to him with concerns about China's massive influence.

"Everyone seems to have their own stories, whether they are a small business person or whether they're concerned about the crackdown on dissent or human rights," he told NPR.

He's teaming up with Gallagher on a bill to ban the social media platform TikTok. He is concerned the app is taking users' data — and its parent company reports to the CCP — the Chinese Communist Party.

"The algorithms are also controlled ultimately by the CCP. So now you have the user data and the algorithms which are ultimately under the control of the CCP, and that's deeply disturbing," Krishnamoorthi said.

Gallagher is worried about TikTok's ability to influence the flow of information that Americans see and share, telling NPR "it can be used to influence the news, what people see and talk about, and, therefore, to interfere in our society and our politics and our very democracy. So I think we're nearing a very dangerous inflection point here."

TikTok has been working to convince U.S. users their data is secure and is attempting to reassure the Biden administration as well by launching a public relations offensive with meetings in Washington with the company's CEO Shou Zi Chew.

Many lawmakers saw the episode of the surveillance balloon traversing the continental U.S. as yet another egregious chapter in the Chinese government's efforts to spy on U.S interests. The incident also heightened the urgency within Congress to push for a comprehensive plan to tackle what they see as rising security threats.

Coming out of a recent classified briefing on China, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, said, "The rest of the century will be defined by what happens between the United States and China."

Rubio said the way China has deployed high tech devices means the U.S. has to come up with a multipronged response.

"This is not a military challenge. China has used its commercial, military and technological applications in ways no other nation has so it's a multifaceted challenge," Rubio said.

Lawmakers highlight U.S. relationship with Taiwan

Part of that challenge encompasses increased Chinese aggression over Taiwan, an island democracy that governs itself but that China claims as its territory.

Gallagher traveled to Taiwan last week on an unannounced trip and met with top Taiwanese officials. Those officials also visited with a separate bipartisan House delegation.

The U.S. has its own relationship with Taiwan — including deep trade ties and supplying weapons.

"We want to do everything we can to help Taiwan deter or prevent aggression by the CCP," Krishnamoorthi said. "We don't want open hostilities to break out in that part of the world, which could lead to very severe consequences for the region."

The House Foreign Affairs panel is also holding a hearing with top Biden Administration officials on Tuesday to discuss the threat Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, says emanates from the Chinese Communist Party.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., says it's time for Congress to change how China is treated in international agreements. "There's no reason that China should continue to be categorized as a developing nation," he told NPR.

Van Hollen is working with Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney and the pair argue that developing nation status for China is outdated, maintaining that a country with the second largest economy in the world shouldn't get any edge in trade agreements.

While Romney says Congress has a role to play in insisting on what type of strategy the US should deploy when dealing with China, there's a limit to what Congress can do.

"I think we need to develop a more comprehensive and tactical strategy and that's something that'll not be done by Congress," he said. "That's something done by State department, other agencies of government and, in my view, outside experts who offer perspective that you wouldn't get from within the buildings of government."

In terms of things Congress can do — Krishnamoorthi thinks it has to focus on skills training for U.S. workers to be competitive in fields like robotics and artificial intelligence. He also says the U.S. immigration system penalizes those who come to innovate but are forced to leave because they cant get visas.

"This is the U.S. shooting itself in the foot repeatedly on immigration and now it has real world consequences when adversarial regimes take advantage of our weaknesses and it comes back to haunt us."

Committee leaders in both the House and Senate say they hope these hearings can lay the groundwork for a range of bipartisan bills that address workforce training, immigration and education.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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