New House committee focus raises concerns of aggressive competition

With the creation of a committee that has wide bipartisan support, the new US House of Representatives seems determined to increase political pressure on Beijing, an approach that has raised concerns from some policy experts and politicians.

The House voted 365 to 65 on Tuesday in favor of a resolution establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which will make policy recommendations.

"I don't think it'll change US policy per se with regard to China. I think what will come out of part of the committee will be a lot of hot air," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, told China Daily.

Disunited party

"The Republican Party, as we've seen, is very disunited at this point of time. And so it looks for elements that are in common. And one of the common areas, areas where there is a common view in the Republican Party, is on China. And that's why they were able to kick off the select committee so quickly."

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, including new House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a state with a large Chinese population, voted in favor.

"When the Republicans tried to do this two years back, the Democrats backed out of it, and it's not that the Democrats and the Biden administration have been soft on China," Gupta said.

"And so we have to see, but my view is that this will not lead to any shift in US policy whatsoever."

Daniel Larison, a columnist for antiwar.com, wrote on Jan 9 that the two main US political parties tend to coalesce around an aggressive posture.

"To the extent that there are differences between the major parties, it is a difference in rhetoric and emphasis and not a fundamental disagreement over the substance of the policy itself," he said.

Potential conflict

World Politics Review editor-in-chief Judah Grunstein wrote on Jan 6 that the result of US policy is that competition and even potential conflict are now considered the "default position for relations" with China.

"What's striking is that this approach has now become so entrenched that its premises are no longer scrutinized or debated," he wrote.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy insisted the panel would not be partisan.

He said the committee would address issues such as bringing jobs back from China to the United States, securing intellectual property and bringing supply chains back to the country.

But some Democrats expressed concerns that the committee will be biased.

Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, told CNN that the select committee was "another sham effort".

"It's really clear that this is just a committee that would further embolden anti-Asian rhetoric and hate and put lives at risk," she said.

Judy Chu, a California Democrat and chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, said on the House floor: "This committee cannot be used to promote policies that result in the racial profiling of Asian Americans, but should directly focus on specific concerns related to the government of the People's Republic of China."

Gupta said the subcommittee will ultimately not have too much sway over US policy on China.

He does not believe that the House select committee will be able to "create a consensus or unanimity on China", and will in fact boil down into "really partisan insults and hot air" directed at China.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at hengweili@chinadailyusa.com