[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1579-S1580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 CHINA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, tomorrow, the Secretary of State and 
the President's National Security Advisor will have their first face-
to-face meeting with Chinese officials. I am glad our officials met 
with regional allies like Japan and South Korea right beforehand and 
have been in touch with Australia and European allies as well. It is 
essential that we and our friends present a united front.
  Now, the United States and the whole world need the President's team 
to deliver a strong message tomorrow.
  During the campaign, President Biden spoke dismissively about the 
threat from China. But thus far, in office, his team has shown signs 
they understand that Communist China threatens America, our allies, and 
the prevailing international system.
  The world spent years presuming that welcoming China into the 
international community would inevitably cause its rulers to play by 
the rules. Twenty years ago, President Clinton said: ``[E]conomic 
innovation and political empowerment . . . will inevitably go hand in 
hand.'' But since then, rather than the rest of the world exporting 
liberty and transparency into China, Beijing has found more success 
exporting authoritarianism and corruption beyond its borders.

[[Page S1580]]

  In Japan, on Tuesday, Secretary Blinken called out the ``coercion and 
aggression'' that China deploys at home and abroad. He said this 
administration will push back on Beijing. That clear-eyed talk is 
certainly welcome, but it is just the first step.
  Walking the walk will mean actually responding in tough ways to 
espionage and cyber attacks, to violations of human rights, to military 
bullying, to stealing intellectual property and cheating on trade. If 
the administration is up to the task, they will find strong partners in 
this Republican conference.
  Here is one big test: Are they willing to keep investing in our own 
defense?
  Our financial commitment to defending America is our most important 
policy lever in this competition with China. Our allies and adversaries 
do not heed American Presidents because they are charming or good-
looking. The world has respected America for our overwhelming military 
and economic superiority. When that edge erodes, we invite trouble.
  As a share of our economy, American defense spending has fallen 
significantly, not just from Cold War-era heights but even just 
recently. Meanwhile, China used its growing prosperity to modernize its 
military, develop new and longer range weapons to hold U.S. forces at 
risk from further away, and turn a particular eye towards space and 
cyber space.
  Defense spending is about protecting our homeland. It is about 
projecting power. It is about preserving global influence, supporting 
our allies. It is really a barometer of our national will.
  It is also about innovation and the future. Many life-changing 
innovations throughout our economy were first rooted in military R&D.
  Unfortunately, reports suggest the Biden administration may plan to 
freeze defense spending. Of course, that means a reduction, after 
inflation. Dozens of Democrats are pressuring the administration for 
even steeper cuts than that. If the administration is serious about 
competing with China, deterring Russia, and preserving American 
leadership, the most important test will be in the President's budget 
submission.
  Some of our Senate Democratic colleagues have expressed interest in 
crafting bipartisan legislation related to China. If any issue is ripe 
for a regular-order, bipartisan process, it would be that one.
  Defense spending is the crucial first step, but there are a whole 
variety of subjects concerning our competition with China that could 
benefit from a serious look.
  There is bipartisan support for improving security reviews of foreign 
investment and protecting against forced technology transfer, for 
cracking down on Chinese espionage and political influence campaigns, 
for supporting the people of Hong Kong, and human rights, and deterring 
aggression against Taiwan. There is bipartisan support for fostering 
specific industries of national-security importance, such as 
semiconductors, and for broadly strengthening American R&D.
  There is an opportunity for fruitful discussion here. Certainly, this 
is an area where bipartisanship will be especially crucial, so 
strategies don't change schizophrenically with every election. As one 
of our Democratic colleagues said in a hearing yesterday, ``the U.S. 
will not out-compete China . . . with short-term legislation and never-
ending uncertainty.''
  That is another great argument for not trashing the legislative 
filibuster. Imagine if every action the Senate takes with national 
security implications were constantly subject to being wiped clean. 
While China plans years and decades at a time, our Federal legislation 
would be reduced to a shelf life of a couple years.
  These issues need to be addressed thoughtfully and deliberately. 
Identifying critical technologies and the best ways to promote and 
protect advancements needs to be a smart, fact-based process, not a 
political guessing game or throwing cash at industries with the right 
connections.
  Our work on this front should strengthen our ties with our allies and 
partners, not try in vain to simply go it alone.
  And the Democratic majority must resist the temptation to pile a long 
list of unrelated policy wishes into a big package and try to label it 
``China policy.'' It would be quite a remarkable coincidence if our 
Democratic colleagues' vision for a so-called China bill ends up being 
indistinguishable from a list of things that just happen to delight 
liberal interest groups.
  Getting America on a stronger footing will not require some sweeping 
far-left transformation of our economy. It will mean continuing to 
complement the principles and ideas that are our greatest strengths, 
and it will mean working on these issues the right way, across the 
aisle

                          ____________________