Reports surfaced on Tuesday that China will increase its military spending by 7.2%, despite a massive slowdown in the communist country’s economy. The news comes on the heels of a new bill introduced last week by House Republicans that is designed to counter Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing military aggression by reducing trade with the regime “in areas critical to national security, including telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and military technology.”
The bill, which was introduced by the Republican Study Committee (RSC) and is entitled the Countering Communist China Act, is being touted by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) as “the strongest legislation against the CCP ever introduced to Congress.” He further maintained that “the CCP poses a greater threat to American sovereignty than any modern adversary.”
On Monday, Hern joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss why the bill is needed.
“[W]hen you see what China is doing, their economic prowess [is growing],” he pointed out. “Our GDP is $23 trillion. Theirs is approaching $18 trillion. … [T]hey’re building major infrastructure projects, taking over South America, moving up through Panama, Honduras, Ecuador. … [W]e’re seeing fentanyl come across our southern border, [and] all the precursors are coming from China and being manufactured in Mexico. … It’s coming into the United States of America to kill people.”
Hern continued, “When you look at what’s happening with the human rights violations with the Muslim Uyghurs, a million [people detained in camps] and all the genital mutilations that are going on, [the] slave labor … 90% of our active ingredients for our medicines are made in China. … When you look at trade policies, [they] certainly [are] not fair at all. … [I]t’s insane what we’re seeing with TikTok — they’re collecting our data, and we’ve got to stop that. So this bill attacks every one of those issues and more.”
Hern, who serves as the chairman of the RSC, went on to emphasize that the bill is geared toward seeing China as America’s greatest adversary, as opposed to President Joe Biden’s approach of merely wanting “competition” with the communist regime.
“They’re talking about a 500-ship military navy by 2030, and we’re going to be [at] about 300 ships,” he stressed. “[T]hey’re marching around and around Taiwan to try to clear off any of the Western nations. … [T]hey’re trying to avoid a lot of our trade sanctions by going to Cambodia and Vietnam and setting up companies there that are funded by China. There’s not a company in China that’s not owned by China. And so it’s different than us competing in the free marketplace.”
Hern further explained that the bill would give the U.S. government broad powers to impose sanctions on Chinese entities and individuals across the globe. “[It would] be punitive toward and create sanctions if we don’t reduce the fentanyl deaths by 98%. It would sanction companies [and] individual Chinese … company leaders across the world where we have the ability to do so. It would go directly at their financial institutions that China is using to fund these different programs they’re doing across not only the United States, but [other] Western nations.”
Among a host of other provisions, a summary of the bill notes that it will:
- “Restrict outbound investments into Chinese tech companies;”
- “Place trade restrictions on Chinese military and surveillance companies;”
- “Stop CCP entities from purchasing American real estate and farmland;”
- “Stop American companies from investing in Chinese military entities;”
- “Require the President to impose sanctions on Chinese Communist Military Companies;” and
- “Prevent any Department of Defense funds from going to any Chinese Communist Military Companies”
Hern concluded by contending that a change in the behavior of American consumers and in U.S. leadership will be critical in countering the threat posed by the communist regime.
“China is our largest trading partner, and we are their largest trading partner, and the only reason they have a foothold in America is because consumers in America are wanting cheaper products, and China’s been delivering them,” he observed. “And President Trump pointed that out with creating tariffs to give our manufacturers in America the foothold, the necessary opening to create products here that consumers want, and we need to listen to that. … I know it will be a different relationship under President Trump [than] it’s been under President Biden.”
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
