US senators propose more programmes to help competition with China
- The Strategic Competition Act of 2021 is amended to provide more aid to Africa and Latin America and more tech funding
- The foreign policy issue ‘perhaps for the entire 21st century is going to be China, China and China,’ one senator says
More aid to Africa and Latin America, greater funding for technology industries and a more robust US development bank were among the initiatives added on Wednesday to a landmark bill intended to improve the US’ ability to compete with China.
“The issues facing us today in foreign policy, and perhaps for the entire 21st century, is going to be China, China and China,” said Jim Risch of Idaho, the senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the hearing on the Strategic Competition Act of 2021.
“I can’t overstate the significance of this bill.”
The legislation, which enjoys strong bipartisan support, represents an effort by Congress to strengthen US tools deemed necessary to counter Beijing and to bolster US capabilities as the two economic giants increasingly face off as “strategic competitors”.
“China is strategic competition – not because that is what we want or what we have tried to create but because of the choices that Beijing has and is making,” said Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, the committee’s chairman.
“China today is challenging the United States and international community across every dimension of power – political, diplomatic, economic, innovation, military, even cultural – and with an alternative and deeply disturbing model for global governance.”
