A newly released U.S. Congressional strategy report details that the future direction of U.S. diplomacy will focus on deepening cooperation with European allies and reestablishing international organizations and norms that operate on the principles of a democratic order. Senate Republican leaders have also called for an expansion of relations with European allies as a multilateral model to counterbalance China’s global reach.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, held a videoconference Wednesday with a number of European parliamentary foreign policy-making leaders to discuss China’s challenges on both sides of the Atlantic. The meeting also unveiled a new diplomatic strategy led by Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The strategy, titled “The United States and Europe: A Concrete Agenda for Transatlantic Cooperation to Address China,” was released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Republicans. The report analyzes seven key aspects of China that the U.S. and Europe must work together to address, including political and cultural penetration, influence in international organizations, unequal trade and investment practices, scientific and technological competition, overseas business activities, and the expansion of power in Africa and the Indo-Pacific region.
“China has become a true systemic competitor to the common interests of the United States and Europe,” said Senator Risch, who was re-elected to Congress this year, at the symposium. “There is a growing recognition of this reality on both sides of the Atlantic. Now, we must put the consensus agreement into action.”
Risch emphasized that China poses a challenge that cannot be met by the United States or European countries alone. “China is too big, and too well equipped,” Risch said.
He also mentioned that in addition to the U.S. and Europe, the global effort must include Australia, Canada and other like-minded countries.
Risch’s call was supported by David McAllister, chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who was in attendance.
“Transatlantic partners face similar challenges with regard to China: unfair trade practices, cybersecurity, disinformation, and the quest for geopolitical and technological dominance,” said McAllister from Germany. This (report) can be used to strengthen cooperation between the EU and the U.S. on China, especially on trade, technology, defense of rule-based multilateralism and human rights issues. We, as lawmakers, will have an important role to play in this regard.”
If Republicans are successful in retaining control of the Senate in the new Congress, Senator Risch will continue to serve as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to Risch, the report was not deliberately timed to coincide with an election or presidential transition.
He also told the U.S. media earlier that he was willing to work with the Biden administration in the future to deepen cooperation with Europe to seek more help against China.
“This challenge requires a long-term shared and sustained commitment, and countries on both sides of the Atlantic are committed to making China a priority in their foreign economic policies,” Risch said during the symposium.
Risch further mentioned that in order to deal with China, the U.S. and European countries may have to set aside their differences and work together, even in the face of conflicting views. Perhaps more importantly, he said, “even if we disagree, we must still commit to working together.”
International rules and order are being eroded by China, U.S. and European diplomatic leaders call for cooperation to defend the value of freedom
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, told the seminar that it is now clear that China’s Communist Party leadership is aggressively undermining the rules-based international system and attempting to rewrite the workings of global exchange.
“We should be clear about what the challenge is,” said Tugendhat, a conservative. “China today is not just a growing force as factors change, it’s actually making direct changes to the workings of the international system.”
“The world is now more centralized, less networked, and it is trying to shape and influence people through the power of the state,” Tugendhat continued.
Tugendhat said the world’s peace and prosperity over the past 70 years have been built on the values of freedom that are essential to democracies, and that “Europe and the United States must continue to defend these values.
Report: China’s Expanding International Influence Aims to Reshape International System
Although the People’s Republic of China joined the United Nations in 1971, it was not until the early 2000s that it began to take action to increase its influence at the UN, the 124-page report says in a section on China’s efforts to infiltrate international organizations to increase its global influence.
According to the report, this effort has contributed to one of the main goals of the PRC’s foreign policy, which is to “reform global governance” in order to make the international system more favorable to the Chinese Communist Party.
The penetration of international organizations by Chinese Communist Party forces has apparently raised alarm bells in U.S. and European diplomatic circles. Beijing’s attempts to change the established order have raised questions about the legitimacy of international organizations and institutions, Tugendhat said.
“One of the things that we’ve noticed in different ways around the world over the last few years is that existing structures are increasingly challenged and it’s becoming more and more difficult to maintain the legitimacy that they had when they were created, just as it was when the United Nations was created, and most of the world’s international institutions are struggling to maintain their legitimacy,” Tugendhat said.
Senator Risch agrees, saying that the free world is well accustomed to dealing with dissenting views by way of debate and persuasion. “China doesn’t have that experience, because they simply don’t have that kind of work, and they don’t have that kind of democratic mechanism,” Risch said.
He continued, “So when they join, or take over or hijack these institutions, or just as importantly the commissions and branches of these institutions, they take a different approach than we do.”
The report also refers to the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in September, when Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said, “The global governance system needs to reflect the realities of international politics and the process of multipolarization.”
China’s strategy to reshape the international system, the report says, is to use its economic and military power to justify its increased influence in international organizations.
China Cracks Down on Taiwan’s International Space European Official: Outrageous
U.S. and European foreign policy makers also spoke at the symposium about the growing Chinese bullying of Taiwan. McAllister said that Taiwan should be admitted to the World Health Organization. He also called on countries on both sides of the Pacific to speak up for Taiwan and support Taiwan’s membership application.
Tugendhat immediately responded that he fully agreed with this sentiment.
“China’s financial contribution to the WHO is so small compared to that of the United States, the United Kingdom, and even the Gates Foundation, all of which contribute far more than the People’s Republic of China. But it is outrageous that Taiwan is being bullied by such a country,” Tugendhat said.
The report recommends
Senator Risch concluded by emphasizing that China continues to grow, but he expects that China’s growth will be accompanied by incremental progress in the rule of law. “Equally important, by strengthening the rule of law and adhering to international norms, China will be able to continue to trade in the international arena,” Risch said.
The report concludes with six recommendations on how the United States should deepen its cooperation with the United Kingdom and the European Union across the Atlantic to counter China in the future: protect free and open societies from new authoritarian regimes; preserve the integrity of international organizations; combat unfair trade practices and anti-competitive economic strategies; develop new technologies and shape the way they are used; address the economic and security implications of China’s investments in the Belt and Road Initiative; and deepen the transatlantic partnership in Africa and the Indo-Pacific region.
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