After the election: An agenda to address the China threat

If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate on Nov. 8, they will have the opportunity to move against the China threat in a manner not seen since the Trump administration. To be sure, a Republican majority in the House will be limited if they do not win the Senate, given that the Biden administration will remain in office for two more years. The power of the purse will be weakened as well as if Continuing Resolutions are used for funding the government. This places an enormous burden on a potential Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Strong and consistent leadership will be required of McCarthy as only limited help on the China threat will be received from a potential Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Those are, indeed, major limitations.

Nonetheless, there is much that the new 118th Congress can accomplish on the China threat. Here are the parameters of an agenda. Fundamentally, Congress has to provide leadership regarding the China threat, this includes directing the U.S. government to combat it, and informing the American people about its activities, the threat to the homeland, and the birthright of the American people. Specifically, this involves combatting Wall Street’s relationship with the Chinese regimes, bolstering defenses, and providing greater support for allies and partners.

First, and most importantly, Congress must provide leadership on the China threat since the Biden administration has not. This means that McCarthy will have to add to his portfolio the de facto national security adviser and secretaries of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, on the China threat. The most important measure will be to develop and execute a strategy for the defeat of the Chinese regime. It falls to McCarthy and his allies in the Senate, as there is no one else in the free world who possesses the authority or willingness to do so. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and others have already announced that they take the lead on hearings on the China threat, these efforts should be joined if the Republicans capture the Senate, and should become a permanent sub-committee that becomes the focal point for the U.S. government in the absence of adequate attention from the administration.

Second, Wall Street continues to fund China’s rise by permitting Beijing to raise money on New York markets. Congress has to act through hearings to provide sunlight, oversight, and legislation to end Wall Street’s relationship with the Chinese regime. This situation should never have been permitted to arise in the first place, and it is a scandal beyond measure and comprehension that it continues. An excellent place to start with the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Millions of U.S. government employees, service members, veterans, and retired federal workers through their retirement savings are funding China. U.S. dollars are invested through TSP, the world’s largest defined contribution fund with over $730 billion, into Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled companies. As a result, U.S. government employees are funding the expanding power of their enemies. U.S. capital continues to flow into the enemy’s coffers, and this outrageous situation must end immediately. Congressional hearings and oversight are necessary to ensure that this problem begins to be addressed.

Third, on defense, Congress needs to pressure the administration to have adequate conventional and nuclear force structure to meet its national security interests including commitments to allies. This requires working with the services to compel a change in mindset from counterinsurgency campaigns to attritional high-intensity wars against a peer rival. Congress must fund a navy with an adequate number of surface vessels, submarines, and sealift to deter China’s aggression and reassure allies. The Navy has to ensure it has a force that can incur losses in an attritional war with China. It is clear that the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding capabilities are not able to replace losses the United States would incur in a war with China. The Air Force and Indo-Pacific Command should be expanding strike assets within the theater and on its periphery. Congress needs to work with the administration to ensure that the Air Force has sufficient assets to fight an attritional war with China. The Army and Marines must be prepared for a scope of missions in the Indo-Pacific, including amphibious, anti-surface, and deep strike missions that are far from the counter-insurgency missions of the last two decades.

In the nuclear realm, there must be a reversal of the Biden administration’s decisions on retiring the B83-1 nuclear weapon and continuing development on the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N), which the Biden administration announced it would not support in the October public release of the Nuclear Posture Review. Congress and the administration work to continue triad and nuclear command, control, communications (NC3) modernization.

Fourth, regarding U.S. allies and partners, Congress has to guarantee the credibility of U.S. commitments to allies and that the extended deterrent to them remain steadfast. The relationship with Taiwan must change to reflect its history as a U.S. ally, its military and intelligence role, and its economic and ideological importance in the struggle against China. Visits from senior Congressional officials to Taiwan should be routinized. At the same time, Congress should host Taiwanese officials, permitting Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to address a joint session.

A Republican Congress provides a tremendous opportunity for Congress to lead on the China threat and to ensure that the next two years are not lost in combating the threat as the last two years have been. In the window of the next two years, it is Congress that must take the lead in the struggle against China until the 2024 election marks the return of a presidency that will work in tandem with Congress to defeat the threat from the Chinese regime.