Likely US House speaker promotes China panel, naming an ardent hawk as its chair
- House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, expected to replace Nancy Pelosi in January, calls for committee to ‘fight against the Chinese Communist Party’
- For chairman, McCarthy picks Representative Mike Gallagher, who has introduced legislation to force tax-exempt groups to divest holdings in Chinese companies
US Representative Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican likely to become House speaker when the new Congress convenes next month, reiterated his pledge on Thursday to establish a select committee on China “to expose and fight against the Chinese Communist Party’s cyber, trade and military threats against America”.
McCarthy made his announcement a day after Representative Andy Biggs, a hard-right Arizona Republican, declared a challenge to McCarthy’s bid for speaker when the full House votes on January 3.
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However, McCarthy, the House Republican leader, is seen as the front runner to replace Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who is stepping down after Republicans narrowly took control of the House in the midterm elections.
Characterising the Chinese Communist Party as the “greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime”, McCarthy called for a “whole-of-government approach that will build on the efforts of a Republican-led China task force”.
Congress needed to ensure that “America is prepared to tackle the economic and security challenges posed by the CCP”, he added.
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McCarthy said he would name Representative Mike Gallagher to lead the panel. A Republican from Wisconsin and an ardent China hawk, Gallagher was described by McCarthy as “exceptionally qualified” and “right person to serve as the chairman”.
First elected to the House in 2016, Gallagher is a Marine counter-intelligence veteran and a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees.
On Thursday, Gallagher thanked McCarthy and called for “a united front against CCP aggression”, adding that the “CCP continues to commit genocide, obscure the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, steal hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American intellectual property, and threaten Taiwan”.
Beijing denies all allegations of genocide and human rights abuses in its far-western Xinjiang region.
Last week Gallagher introduced a bill that, if passed, would force non-profit groups, university endowments, public pension plans and any other tax-exempt entity to divest from Chinese companies or lose their tax-exempt status.
“Tax-exempt entities that invest in CCP-directed companies are not only profiting off of genocide, destroying the environment, and financing the PLA’s ability to build weapons that can kill Americans, but are also making US taxpayers unwittingly subsidise it. This has to stop,” he said.
Gallagher criticised US President Joe Biden’s meeting in November with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia, as a “missed opportunity” to “press Xi publicly on his intentions with Taiwan” and to “get Xi to commit to full transparency when it comes to COVID-19 origins”.
An unclassified report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in 2021 dismissed theories suggesting that the novel coronavirus had been created through genetic engineering or an attempt to make a bioweapon.
Recently, Gallagher has called TikTok, the popular Chinese short-video app, a “Trojan Horse of the CCP” and “digital fentanyl addicting our kids”.
Last month, he co-wrote an op-ed with Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, demanding a comprehensive ban on TikTok in the US.
“TikTok, time’s up”, he warned.
