Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) criticized the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy for prioritizing climate change over taking action to deter China and other hostile nations.
Banks, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems, supports a more robust strategy to deter and out-compete China. He introduced the Countering Communist China Act last year, according to a press release.
“After two years of weak foreign policy that has destabilized the Pacific and the Middle East and caused full-blown disasters in Ukraine and Afghanistan, the Biden administration finally released its National Security Strategy,” Banks said, the release reported. “Even after multiple delays, the White House produced a mediocre document that consists of empty slogans doubling down on two years of failed policy and lacks any sort of comprehensive strategy.”
Banks said the world needs strong American leadership and President Joe Biden is falling short
“The White House is refocusing national security resources on the left’s social justice and climate issues, instead of responding to the grave threats of China and Russia,” he said in the release. “It’s wasteful and negligent, continues to damage readiness and recruitment and is contrary to servicemembers’ values and longstanding principles of American democracy.”
The Biden administration recently issued its National Security Strategy, which includes a section on “out-competing China.” The document calls for a three-pronged approach: Investing in domestic innovation, aligning with allies and other partners with whom the U.S. shares common goals and competing “responsibly” with China “to defend our interests and build our vision for the future,” the White House reported.
Former Secretary of State and current administration climate envoy John Kerry has said that working together with China to fight climate change is more important than confrontations over human rights abuses, Fox Business reported.
“Well, life is always full of tough choices,” Kerry said about the tradeoff between climate and human rights. First, the planet must be protected.
China is the world’s top polluter, generating approximately 30% of global emissions as of 2019, according to a report from Climate Trade. The U.S. was responsible for around 14% of global emissions.
Banks' Countering Communist China Act is made up of more than 100 individual bills that aim to address China’s censorship and human rights abuses, The Ripon Advance reported.
The bill recognizes China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the United States’ top national security threat and aims to counter China's malign influence and theft of intellectual property. It would invest in supply chain security, especially relating to medical and pharmaceutical items and national security. It aims to protect American universities, laboratories and research institutions from CCP influence and theft, restricting foreign funding of educational institutions and partnerships with the People’s Republic of China. The act would place prohibitions on undermining the U.S.’s policy regarding Taiwan, and seek to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan. It would address the genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and impose sanctions for human rights abuses.
