Beijing’s influence operations inside the United States have taken on a new dimension, as revealed by reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pressuring American companies to lobby against a sweeping China bill that seeks to enhance U.S. competitiveness.
The report must have alarmed U.S. congressional leaders, who now pledge to “immediately” resume talks and get the bill over the finish line “as soon as possible.”
Both Senate and House bills aim to counter Beijing’s economic ambitions and global influence. They seek to address issues surrounding Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Beijing’s genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. USICA calls for boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics and reporting on the origins of the COVID–19 pandemic.
In a letter sent in early November, the Chinese Embassy asked company executives to “play a positive role in urging members of Congress to abandon the zero-sum mindset and ideological prejudice, stop touting negative China-related bills, [and] delete negative provisions.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian didn’t deny these influence operations but said that certain U.S. bills reflected “Cold War thinking” that harmed the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Washington, however, has no intentions of backing down, according to Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), co-sponsor of the Senate bill, who responded to China’s threats.
“Xi Jinping does not want this bill to become law,” Young said in a statement. The Chinese leader is “scared” because USICA will make the United States “once again surge ahead.”
China threats “will only help to ensure the bill becomes law,” he said.
News that China is lobbying against the bill could unite and energize both parties and chambers of Congress to pass a bipartisan bill without delay.
Both chambers “will immediately begin a bipartisan process of reconciling the two chambers’ legislative proposals so that we can deliver a final piece of legislation to the president’s desk as soon as possible,” they said.
“I am glad talks have resumed on passing legislation to confront the generational threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told me.
“But it is vital this legislation be bipartisan–and meaningfully address the various aspects of the CCP’s malign actions, rather than providing billions more for the Green Climate Fund on top of the tens of billions in climate dollars appropriated this week alone.”
House Republicans want the bill “to counter the CCP’s ideological and territorial expansion, to stop their economic malfeasance, to maintain our conventional military edge in the Indo-Pacific, and to secure critical technology supply chains,” according to McCaul.
It’s unclear what the ultimate China bill will look like, but it “needs to be more than messaging and can’t be turned into another political football–it’s too important,” McCaul said.