Senator Tom Cotton said that in the 1990s, the U.S.-led Western world began helping mainland China with economic reforms; thirty years later the U.S. and Chinese economies are entangled, and the growing Chinese Communist Party wants to bite the farmer like a snake in the farmer’s bosom. But the United States is not a farmer, Senator Cotton said in his latest report, and the United States will ultimately win in the face of world power. He believes that targeted decoupling and long-term economic warfare will defeat the Chinese Communist Party.
The two parties in Congress are so far apart on most issues that it is often difficult to get 60 votes in the Senate to avoid “lengthy debates,” but the two parties can work together on mainland China, the issue of confronting the Chinese Communist threat. Not only is this (the China issue) a widely watched issue among the American public, but if done right, it could win a bipartisan majority in the Senate,” said Republican Sen. Todd Young (R-Tenn.).
Cotton is a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Recently, he published an article, “What the U.S. Must Do to Defeat the Chinese Communist Party,” in the National Review (National Review). In the article, he said that the U.S. government’s aggressive political and economic measures to deal with the Chinese Communist threat are a thing of the past. In order to send the CCP into the dustbin of history, the United States must wage a long-term economic war through targeted decoupling and strict economic competition.
Ending the U.S.-China Economic Entanglement to Abolish Permanent Normal Trade Relations
In his article, Cotton points to three decades of U.S.-China economic cooperation and a devastating trade war waged by the Chinese Communist Party against the United States that has destroyed millions of American jobs through systematic cheating, theft and espionage.
He writes, “Our [U.S. and Chinese Communist] economies are now dangerously entwined, and the U.S. continues to drive the growth of our greatest adversary. This must end.”
He stressed that the U.S. must rebuild America’s economic strength by economically decoupling from the Chinese Communist Party in vulnerable areas, particularly in the supply of essential goods and high-tech manufacturing.
Cotton argued that the Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of preferential U.S. trade policies to launch a campaign of economic aggression. He said that to counter the CCP threat, the U.S. should abolish the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with the CCP, which means that the U.S. Congress and the president would have to review mainland China’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) annually.
Cotton said, “A criminal regime that steals hundreds of billions of dollars of intellectual property each year, manipulates its currency, and dumps subsidized products around the world should not be given MFN status (by the U.S.).”
On March 18, Cotton joined Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rick Scott (R-Okla.) in introducing the China Trade Relations Act, which seeks to eliminate the “permanent normal trade relations” status enjoyed by the Chinese Communist Party. “status enjoyed by the Chinese Communist Party, i.e., revoke permanent MFN status for mainland China and return to the mechanism that operated in 2001.
Cutting off the Chinese Communist Party’s theft pathway to ban Chinese students from STEM programs
In addition to cutting ties with the CCP on trade, Cotton argues that cuts must also be made in the areas of intellectual property and academia.
He notes that the CCP commits up to 80 percent of the theft in the international intellectual property arena. Much of this nefarious theft occurs on U.S. campuses and in U.S. laboratories and research institutions.
Cotton said that in 2018-19, some 370,000 Chinese students were allowed to study in the United States while U.S. researchers were participating in the CCP’s talent acquisition program. He argued that such open access is unwise and should be restricted. The U.S. government should prohibit mainland Chinese citizens from pursuing undergraduate or graduate level studies in STEM fields; prohibit CCP funding of U.S. universities and research institutions; and end the development of a U.S. satellite university system in mainland China.
The purpose of this would be to block the pipeline of intellectual property stolen by the Chinese Communist Party from U.S. colleges and universities and academic institutions.
He wrote, “This will further reduce theft and end the absurd and dangerous practice of welcoming Chinese Communist military researchers into our nation’s most advanced laboratories.”
Reducing Dependence on Future Technologies to End “Made in China”
On the supply of rare earth elements, pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment (PPE), Cotton emphasized that the U.S. must end its dependence on the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party controls 85 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth elements, has used rare earths to extort money from Japan, and is now seeking to control exports to the U.S. to curb the U.S. manufacture of the F-35 fighter jet.
Cotton believes the strategic weakness of relying on mainland Chinese products must be quickly eliminated. He recommends that the U.S. reconfigure production of essential supplies through “Buy American” requirements, tax incentives and large-scale inventories.
He also argued that in the area of investment, the U.S. government should prevent U.S. companies from investing in strategic Chinese industries, while imposing broad export controls on advanced artificial intelligence technology, 5G telecommunications technology and semiconductor technology destined for mainland China.
Export controls would prevent mainland China from pioneering and dominating these key technologies of the future,” he wrote. Tomorrow’s technologies cannot have the words ‘Made in China’ added to them.”
Believing that the CCP’s strength comes from its economic power and financial exploitation, Cotton said, “This evil empire relies on our generosity, openness and naiveté. Without these, it would probably collapse.”
In his Beat China report, released in February, he also noted that the challenges of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union all ended in victory for the United States. He writes, “Once again, the United States faces a powerful totalitarian power seeking to take over Eurasia and reshape the world order with its unique and insidious methods. The Communist war against the United States has been waged for decades, but only recently has the United States become aware of the challenge. Throughout history, a delayed strike may have been the U.S. strategic approach, but so was victory.”
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