Congress would target China with new restrictions in massive defense bill

WASHINGTON AP The Trump administration may have softened its language on China to maintain a fragile truce in their transaction war but Congress is charging ahead with more restrictions in a defense authorization bill that would deny Beijing investments in highly sensitive sectors and reduce U S reliance on Chinese biotechnology companies Included in the -page bill approved Wednesday by the House is a provision to scrutinize American investments in China that could help develop technologies to boost Chinese military power The bill which next heads to the Senate also would prohibit authorities money to be used for equipment and services from blacklisted Chinese biotechnology companies In addition the National Defense Authorization Act would boost U S backing for the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing insists as its own and says it will take by force if necessary Taken together these measures reflect a serious strategic approach to countering the Chinese Communist Party explained Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party He declared the approach stands in stark contrast to the White House s modern actions Congress moves for harsher line toward China The compromise bill authorizing billion for military programs was published two days after the White House unveiled its national precaution strategy The Trump administration dropped Biden-era language that cast China as a strategic threat and announced the U S will rebalance America s economic relationship with China an indication that President Donald Trump is more interested in a mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing than in long-term competition The White House this week also allowed Nvidia to sell an advanced type of computer chip to China with those more hawkish toward Beijing concerned that would help boost the country s artificial intelligence The China-related provisions in the traditionally bipartisan defense bill make clear that whatever the White House tone Capitol Hill is locking in a hard-edged long-term competition with Beijing revealed Craig Singleton senior director of the China project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies a Washington-based think tank If passed these provisions would build a floor under U S competitiveness plan on capital biotech and critical tech that will be very hard for future presidents to unwind quietly he stated The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday denounced the bill The bill has kept playing up the China threat narrative trumpeting for military backing to Taiwan abusing state power to go after Chinese economic maturation limiting pact economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the U S undermining China s sovereignty defense and rise interests and disrupting efforts of the two sides in stabilizing bilateral relations disclosed Liu Pengyu the embassy spokesperson China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this Liu revealed US investments in China U S policymakers and lawmakers have been working for several years toward bipartisan ordinance to curb investments in China when it comes to cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing aerospace semiconductors and artificial intelligence Those efforts flopped last year when Tesla CEO Elon Musk opposed a spending bill Musk has extensive business interests in China including a Tesla gigafactory in the eastern city of Shanghai The provision made it into the must-pass defense approach bill welcomed by Rep John Moolenaar a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party For too long the hard-earned money of American retirees and investors has been used to build up China s military and financial system he declared This regulation will help bring that to an end Biosecurity protections Congress last year failed to pass the BIOSECURE Act which cited national safeguard in preventing federal money from benefiting a number of Chinese biotechnology companies Critics stated then that it was unfair to single out specific companies warning that the measure would delay clinical trials and hinder advancement of new drugs raise costs for medications and hurt innovation The provision in the NDAA no longer names companies but leaves it to the Office of Management and Budget to compile a list of biotechnology companies of concern The bill also would expand Pentagon investments in biotechnology Moolenaar lauded the effort for taking defensive action to secure American pharmaceutical supply chains and genetic information from malign Chinese companies Endorsement for Taiwan The defense bill also would authorize an increase in funding to billion from million this year for Taiwan-related safeguard cooperation and direct the Pentagon to establish a joint drone and anti-drone activity Another provision supports Taiwan s bid to join the International Monetary Fund which would provide the self-governing island with financial protection from China It comes amid mixed signals from Trump who appears careful not to upset Beijing as he seeks to strike contract deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping The Chinese leader has urged Trump to handle the Taiwan issue with prudence as Beijing considers its claim over Taiwan a core interest In the new national precaution strategy the White House says the U S does not encouragement any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and stresses that the U S should seek to deter and prevent a large-scale military conflict But the American military cannot and should not have to do this alone the document says urging Japan and South Korea to increase defense spending Source