House Creates Select Committee on China

"It is my hope, my desire, my wish that we speak with one voice," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a speech ahead of the vote Jan. 10. "If you want to stop the theft of intellectual property and bring supply chains back to America, this committee will make it happen," he said.

He said the U.S. no longer will be as vulnerable to China after this committee steers policy on China.

"The threat is too great for us to bicker with ourselves," he said, and added that he hopes the committee will continue if Democrats retake the majority in the future.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who led the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee in the previous Congress, said he used to believe that engaging China in the world economy would be a good idea. "But over the last 20 years, it's taken a wrong turn. We have watched the Chinese play a cynical game. They have not lived up to their obligations under the [World Trade Organization]... . We've watched oppression increase. I had legislation to close the de minimis loophole which allows China to import two million packages untaxed and uninspected," he said.

He said the committee should get behind that proposal.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he believes the committee will focus on things that are bipartisan, such as oppression of Uyghurs, and what he called deindustrialization. "For 40 years on a bipartisan basis, we watched as jobs were shipped offshore ... that has hurt the working class, that has hurt our ability to be a superpower."

Khanna disagreed with other Asian American members who said they would not vote for the committee because it would fuel xenophobia that has led to violence against Asian Americans. "It's the loss of our jobs that has led to some of the xenophobia," he said, and noted that the infamous killing of a Chinese American in Detroit 40 years ago was because of anger over job losses due to competition with Asian carmakers. He said that if this committee is successful, it could create more manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and thus lower tensions.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported the committee's creation, writing to House members: "It is critical that we hold China accountable for their unfair commercial practices, use of economic coercion, and essential challenge to America’s national security and values. Regrettably, these economic and geopolitical perils are increasing in frequency and severity, and we support the U.S. government efforts to thoughtfully address them, including through the Select Committee." The Chamber went on to say that it expects the committee to distinguish between areas of trade with China that pose "no national security threat to the United States and in fact benefit U.S. companies" and the economy as a whole and those that do pose threats.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing, which frequently is on the other side of issues from the Chamber, also hailed the creation of the committee, and praised its inclusion of human rights violations as well as China's influence over global markets and its presence as an economic competitor.

"To be fully credible, the committee must appoint members from the Industrial Heartland whose communities have been devastated over the past two decades by the China economic shock," AAM President Scott Paul said. "And Members would be wise to remember that voters are united in the need to confront China. Making this a bipartisan effort is necessary for our economic and national security."