https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/u...hina-bk5n9b68c
US Senate unveils bipartisan plan to counter global influence of China
United States senators have unveiled wide-ranging plans to confront China by beefing up the American military in the Pacific, cracking down on intellectual property theft and enhancing support for Taiwan.
The draft Strategic Competition Act of 2021 is a rare bipartisan initiative designed to counter China’s rising global influence. It reflects toughened attitudes towards Beijing among Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
The 280-page draft calls on the Pentagon to strengthen military ties with allies in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of Beijing’s military modernisation and expansion.
It calls for an enhanced partnership with Taiwan, which China regards as its own and which the US at present supports but without officially recognising. The bill states that Taiwan is “vital” to US strategic interests and that there should be no limits on American officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts.
This is in keeping with a lifting of restrictions governing official contacts with Taiwan under the Trump administration.
The draft legislation, drawn up by the Senate foreign relations committee, also calls on the White House and state department to advocate and actively advance Taiwan’s participation in the UN and other international bodies, as well as to promote democracy in Hong Kong.
The bill would also allow for further
sanctions on Chinese officials in relation to abuses against the minority Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang.
On the economic front, the bill would require the secretary of state to issue a list each year of Chinese state-owned companies that have benefited from intellectual property theft that hurt American companies.....
The foreign relations committee plans to debate the draft legislation next week.
Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the committee, said it was the first significant proposal to bring Democrats and Republicans together in laying out a strategic approach towards Beijing. The aim was to show the US was ready and capable of competing with China across all dimensions of national and international power for decades to come, he said.
“I am confident that this effort has the necessary support to be overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week and the full Senate shortly thereafter,” he said.