Former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger said Thursday (April 15) that the Chinese Communist Party is using trade as a political pry bar and that the U.S. government should create an “Economic NATO” to counter it.
“Beijing intends to reduce China’s (CCP) dependence on the world while making the world increasingly dependent on China,” Bomen said at a video hearing before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
He said that China (CCP) first uses massive subsidies to Chinese companies to make them price competitive and take over international markets, while using theft of intellectual property overseas to create copycat versions to reduce Beijing’s imports of high technology and make other countries heavily dependent on China for the supply of high technology.
The international community has condemned Beijing’s recent moves to weaponize trade with increasing frequency. In Australia, for example, the Chinese Communist Party was angered last April by the Australian government’s request for an international independent investigation into the Chinese Communist virus (coronavirus). China and Australia then got into a diplomatic spat, but Australia did not show any weakness.
The CCP then launched a trade drive to curb imports of Australian beef, wine, lobster, and coal, notably by imposing high tariffs of upwards of 80% on Australian barley. Later, the CCP also published a list of 14 items that Beijing was unhappy with in Australia, and these entries were, in effect, political demands on the Australian government.
Xi Jinping has also said that the Chinese government is prepared to “build an independent, controlled, safe and reliable industrial chain and supply chain.” It also wants to back up the supply chain, and claims that this protects “industrial security and national security.”
In response, Bo said not to be fooled by the seemingly defensive rhetoric of the CCP, which has been using the economy as a political lever.
He suggested that the government could create an “economic NATO” to form a NATO-like economic defense alliance against the Chinese Communist Party and allow member countries to provide economic support for goods that are subject to Chinese Communist sanctions. He mentioned the recent ban on Taiwan’s pineapples (pineapples). Japan, on the other hand, has imported large quantities of Taiwan pineapples in support of Taiwan. And in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s retaliation against U.S. allies, the White House bought Australian wine last year while planning an event.
He said, “In every cooperation that government and industry undertake, we should first ask ourselves whether the new measures increase our leverage in this competition or give it away to our adversary, Beijing.”
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