The United States must move decisively to achieve independence from China in terms of economic, manufacturing and energy policies, according to one analyst.
That’s the view of Steve Yates, chair of the America First Policy Institute’s China Policy Initiative.
“We deeply respect the Chinese people and their storied history and contributions to the human experience,” Yates said when named to the post Feb. 3. “However, from stealing Americans’ jobs to the theft of American intellectual property, to being the world’s top polluter of our air and oceans, to its indoctrination of Americans through co-optation of Wall Street, Hollywood, and major cultural and educational institutions, and, of course, the fact that COVID-19 emerged from China and killed 1 million Americans, the threat we face from the Chinese Communist Party is everywhere and real.”
He told State Newswire he sees some signs of positive movement in Congress, while other legislation gives him pause.
“I think the most helpful legislation that has been proposed most recently came out of the Republican Study Committee, and it's House Resolution 4792, Countering Communist China Act,” Yates said. “Congressman [Jim] Banks (R-Ind.) is the chair of the Republican Study Committee. And it’s through his committee’s efforts. They pulled together a lot of the other bills that had been put forward by other members and coalesced into those that focused on countering the malign influence of the Communist Party of China.
“It’s a long way of saying the big problem we’ve had in the past are individual bills coming from many different individual members," he added. "All may be well-meaning or justified, but it’s like 100 fireworks kind of getting going up at once instead of a more concentrated effort to do something that truly pushes back on the influences of the Communist Party of China. So the Banks’ bill was the most effective combination of legislative proposals focused on China and its influences here at home and also overseas that I’ve seen in many, many years.”
Banks had problems with the Democrats' proposal on China.
“Democrats’ China spending bills fall short, so that’s why House conservatives are introducing our own China bill as a benchmark for how Congress should address the China threat,” Banks said when the GOP proposal was released. “Their bill places a burden on taxpayers and lets China off easy, but our bill protects taxpayers and holds the Chinese Communist Party accountable.”
Yates said although parts of the GOP package have been included in other legislation, for it to advance as a whole, Republicans will need to control Congress.
“It will take a different leadership committed to make all of this a priority in order to make that so,” he said. “But this is the first bill that really puts together in stark relief the measures that we need to be doing at home with regard to the American taxpayer, money that is inappropriately going to China or the Communist Party of China’s affiliated companies, but also to bolster our allies to have better self-defense capability, particularly Taiwan, as that was a focus during the summer.”
Yates said he has concerns about a bill that did become law, the CHIPS Act of 2022.
“Well, it may be counterintuitive at first when people look at the name of the bill, but I saw the CHIPS Act that went forward this summer that was suggested to be an effort to bolster the semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in the United States and explicitly to help make the United States more competitive with China,” he said. “It’s hard to argue against the notion of being more competitive with China. It’s also very clearly a good idea for the United States to have a greater manufacturing capability of its own and semiconductors.
“However, the way this bill went forward, it offered roughly a $60 billion subsidy to industry here. Very hard to argue that will make a meaningful difference in a multi-trillion-dollar industry,” Yates said. “But the cost of getting that $60 billion support effort for semiconductors was $200 billion more. I think wasteful spending will not make America more competitive with China."
He said the U.S. has the assets to stand free of Chinese interference. All that’s needed is the political will to use them.
“The America First approach to China begins here in America, first by making sure that we’re using all of the resources that we have in the current political environment,” Yates said. “We are not using the energy resources that we have at our disposal in the United States to lessen dependencies. We’re not working on the refining capabilities to be able to process those goods, even if we could mine and extract the things that the creator has blessed us with here in America.
“For us, a clear focus on deregulation and energy independence would be a significant jumpstart putting America in a relatively stronger position in terms of engaging and competing with China,” he added. “The second thing that we need to be doing is encouraging our allies and partners to do the same. Most of the world has watched with sadness how Europe has struggled in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the consequences of that.”
Yates said Russia calculated that Europe was wholly dependent upon China for energy, and is using that leverage to protract the Ukraine war to the detriment of European families and businesses.
“We have dependencies in China that are similar and it’s very, very important that we work on strategic decoupling from China so that there’s no strategic good on which we are dependent, whether it’s medicine, energy, food and manufacturing that would harm American workers and families in a time of crisis,” he said.
Yates said he wonders whether Americans are clear about China’s admitted global ambitions.
“You would hope that after the COVID-19 experience, where we had a virus very clearly let out of China, when they chose to shut down domestic travel but deliberately kept open international travel, they lied about the nature of the virus in ways that manipulated government policies around the world in hurting immense numbers of families and businesses around the world, and especially in America,” he said.
“You would think after going through the pain of the last couple of years, people would more clearly look at where that came from, China, and how could a government that takes that kind of action be a reliable partner," he said. "Indeed, isn’t it really a threat to our way of life.
“The Chinese leadership at the very top is actually more clear and vocal in saying that America is an enemy and that they are openly supporting Russia in its war efforts against Ukraine,” Yates added. “And China itself has said that they should begin to decouple financially from the United States."
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) launched a China Policy Initiative in February with the goal of advancing policies that prioritize U.S. interests over China’s interests without leading to a war. The China Policy Initiative brings multi-faceted expertise to analyze and address the threats that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to the U.S.
“For decades, D.C. insiders and Wall Street elites perpetuated the lie that American engagement with Communist China would cause that nation to open, to liberalize, and to reform. They were wrong,” said AFPI board chair Linda McMahon. “Communist China today poses the single largest and systemic threat to Americans’ security and prosperity and affects them in every sphere of their lives.”
AFPI is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit guided by the principles of liberty, free enterprise, and national greatness. AFPI said it works to advance policies that prioritize the American people, including American military superiority and supporting workers, families, and communities.
Yates lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and serves as a senior fellow and chair of the China Policy Initiative. He is an analyst and practitioner with experience at various levels of politics, policy, media, and national security affairs.
Since 2006, he has been a senior adviser to presidential campaigns, a frequent media commentator, and CEO of D.C. International Advisory. He previously served as president of Radio Free Asia and professor in the Practice of International Business and Politics at Boise State University.
Yates served as deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for National Security Affairs from 2001-05.
