U.S. Senators from across the aisle introduced the “Strategic Competition Act” on August 8 to counteract the Chinese Communist Party’s actions in the fields of science and technology, military, human rights, economy and combat of influence, which is the most significant anti-China bill in the U.S. Congress in recent years. The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee will review the bill on the 21st, and it is expected to pass successfully.
The “Strategic Competition Act” (SCA) was introduced by Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NY) and Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-OK) on the 8th. With the support of the two heavyweight senators, the bill was placed on the Foreign Affairs Committee’s agenda soon after it was introduced and is scheduled to be considered on the morning of the 21st, EST, when it should successfully pass.
The 281-page cross-party bill reflects the scale, scope and urgency of the China challenge. Menendez said on the 8th that the bill is intended to ensure that the United States is able to compete with China in all levels of national and international power in the coming decades.
The bill contains five major sections that include plans to respond to Beijing’s actions, including predatory economic practices, malicious influence operations, digital authority, military expansion, ambitions for Taiwan, and oppression of Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The bill also plans to strengthen U.S. regional partnerships with the Indo-Pacific, Western Hemisphere, Transatlantic and Africa to counter China’s ambitions.
On the economic front, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19, Wuhan Pneumonia) exposes the dangers of relying on the Chinese market, prompting the United States to aggressively restructure its supply chain. The bill plans to allocate $15 million (approximately NT$425.84 million) per year in fiscal years 2022 through 2027 for embassies abroad to hire outside experts to assist U.S. companies in withdrawing from the Chinese market and decentralizing their supply chains.
In response to China’s “One Belt, One Road” program, the bill is also expected to allocate $75 million to authorize the Secretary of State to establish the Infrastructure Transaction and Assistance Network (ITAN) program to provide assistance to U.S. companies in the Indo-Pacific region. Assistance Network to promote sustainable, transparent, and high-quality infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region.
The bill also responds to the Chinese Communist Party’s global campaign of malicious influence in recent years. The bill allocates $300 million per year from fiscal years 2022 to 2026 as the “Countering Chinese Communist Influence Fund” and requires the Secretary of State to appoint an official at the Assistant Secretary level or higher to serve as the coordinator and be responsible for the related coordination work.
In terms of technology, the bill suggests that the U.S. should join with its allies and use all available economic and diplomatic tools to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s “digital authority,” which means using information or communications technology products to spy on, oppress, and manipulate people.
The bill also calls for the U.S. to enter into digital trade agreements with trusted partners, specifically naming Taiwan, the European Union, Japan, and the Five Eyes Alliance, an international intelligence coalition. To strengthen digital connectivity and network security partnerships, the bill also plans to allocate $100 million annually between 2022 and 2026 to assist emerging markets in expanding secure networks and digital construction and protecting technological assets.
In response to the Chinese Communist Party’s military ambitions, the bill argues that the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region is becoming increasingly unfavorable to the United States, and warns that the Beijing authorities may accelerate the timetable for action against Taiwan after conquering Hong Kong, making the defense of Taiwan even more urgent and important.
The bill calls for the U.S. to strengthen its security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, including supporting Japan’s development of long-range precision firepower and encouraging and facilitating Taiwan’s accelerated acquisition of asymmetric defense capabilities. In addition, U.S. foreign policy should give priority to the Indo-Pacific region, allocate resources to achieve U.S. political and military objectives in the Indo-Pacific, and exercise freedom of flight and navigation in the region.
In the Taiwan section, the bill devotes two sections in particular to how the U.S. and Taiwan should strengthen their partnership. First, the bill argues that U.S. policy should recognize Taiwan as a vital part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and promote Taiwan’s security and democracy as elements of peace and stability in the “greater Indo-Pacific region,” as well as important U.S. national security interests.
The bill calls for regular U.S. arms sales to Taiwan to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, particularly in the development and integration of asymmetric warfare capabilities, and also urges the U.S. to promote and actively facilitate Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.
In addition, the bill advocates that the U.S. Department of State and other government agencies should deal with Taiwan’s elected government on the same basis as other foreign governments and use the same language and courtesy. Nor should any restrictions be placed on the ability of State Department and other officials to interact directly and regularly with their counterparts in the ROC government.
In the face of increased Chinese repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the bill not only plans to allocate $10 million in fiscal year 2022 for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the U.S. Department of State to promote democracy in Hong Kong, but also seeks to expand sanctions in Xinjiang to include forced labor and forced birth control as matters that must be named and sanctioned by the President of the United States.
If the bill passes the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on the 21st, it must pass the House and Senate before being submitted to the President of the United States for signature and then take effect.
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