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(Bloomberg) — Senate Democrats say they aim to craft a comprehensive and bipartisan bill to strengthen U.S. economic competition with China and respond to any actions that cause aggression. What’s wrong with Taiwan.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a briefing Wednesday, along with several of his colleagues, that the party would work with Republicans who have shown “great interest “.
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The plan comes as Washington and its allies work to coordinate their responses to China’s growing global strategic and economic influence.
This dynamic also highlights the growing interest among members of Congress in making the terms of that challenge, which includes various bills banning the use of certain phone-based apps. in China in the United States, especially TikTok, and the establishment of a Republican-led China selection committee. in the home.
“We are committed to maintaining America’s leadership in the future,” Schumer said at the news conference. “Time is not on our side.”
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The package that Schumer said could include new sanctions and could be ready in the “coming months,” will have five focus areas.
The first is to limit China’s access to advanced technology, including blocking Beijing’s development of advanced technologies and strengthening export control laws.
Invest abroad
The second is to limit investment flows into China, including a ban on some US investments abroad. That aligns with President Joe Biden’s plan to sign an executive order restricting some investments in China, which the administration aims to rally support during the G7 summit in Japan on Tuesday. at the end of this month.
Other areas of focus include new domestic investment in key technologies; create an alternative foreign aid program to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Asia; and to prevent China from starting a conflict with Taiwan or other allies in the region.
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Schumer and his colleagues on Wednesday highlighted the issue surrounding China-dominated supply of key minerals and seeing demand soar amid the transition to green energy, as well. such as protecting the agricultural industry, trade and intellectual property.
Read more: Yellen says worried about China’s security Economic interests overshadow
Schumer on Wednesday said he aims to get enough Republican support for the bill to pass in the Senate, which needs 60 votes to pass the law.
GOP House Challenge
The Republican-led House of Representatives will be a separate challenge. The House of Representatives last year, while under Democratic control, passed a $52 billion funding and incentive measure for the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry in the US as part of a competition bill. compete with China. Republicans voted against the bill, led by speaker Kevin McCarthy, who derided it as “corporate welfare.”
The national security portion of the initiative may have a better chance of getting through Congress. McCarthy favors closer ties with Taiwan and hosted President Tsai Ing-wen in early April.
Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch said he was “modestly” optimistic a bipartisan China bill could be introduced, adding that he was working with Foreign Affairs Chairman Bob Menendez , a Democrat, on part of a proposed bill that would broadly define the United States’ relationship with China militarily and militarily. economy.
(Updated with Schumer quote in fourth paragraph.)
