Specifically, GOP lawmakers led the way in establishing a new committee that will focus on China's undue influences in the U.S. that pose security problems, from selling electronic equipment that can double as espionage tools to buying up American farmland and other property near military bases.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to create a select committee on China, using one of its first votes since Republicans took control to stress members’ desire to counter Beijing’s growing international influence.
The House voted 365 to 65 in favor of a resolution establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which will investigate the issue and make policy recommendations.
All 65 of the “no” votes came from Democrats, some of whom said they were concerned the Republican-led panel would be too partisan. But 146 other Democrats voted in favor.
Also this week, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) noted in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that he had secured a commitment from newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to set up a special committee to look into China’s undue influence in the country.
“The speaker has been very clear about what’s going to happen. He’s been clear for quite some time,” Donalds said. “We’re going to have a select committee just to investigate China and all the things that the CCP is doing to not only influence here in the United States, but also to take jobs away from Americans over the years.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy noted in December: “The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime. We need a whole-of-government approach that will build on the efforts of the Republican-led China Task Force and ensure America is prepared to tackle the economic and security challenges posed by the CCP.”
"We spent decades passing policies that welcomed China into the global system," McCarthy added this week. "In return, China has exported oppression, aggression and anti-Americanism. Today, the power of its military and economy are growing at the expense of freedom and democracy worldwide.
"It didn’t start under this administration, but the current administration has clearly made it worse," he noted further. "Its policies have weakened our economy and made us more vulnerable to the threat of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]."
"There is bipartisan consensus that the era of trusting communist China is over," McCarthy said.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, had to make Democratic opposition about Donald Trump, who hasn't been in power for two years and is not a shoo-in to become president again, despite the fact that he has declared his candidacy.
"President [Donald] Trump repeatedly mislabeled COVID with racist language," McGovern claimed, falsely, by the way. "Such rhetoric coincided with spikes in hate-based acts of violence and discrimination against people of Chinese or Asian origin across our country. This language has no place on this committee or anywhere in Congress."
"While I do have concerns here, after reading the resolution itself, I will be voting ‘yes,’" McGovern said. "The Democratic Party has led the way in implementing efforts to monitor China’s compliance with international human rights and rule of law standards, and we will continue to do so here."
McCarthy advised minority Democrats that the panel would be united in its quest to build a strategy that would help the nation face a rising China.
"Do not be concerned. Those are my same concerns as well, and they will not take place," McCarthy said in response to McGovern's concerns.
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