A new annual budget proposal from the House Republican Study Committee pitches a series of initiatives designed to contain China’s military aggression and armament, industrial espionage, and human rights abuses.
Spearheaded by Representative Jim Banks, the chairman of the committee, the document states that the threats posed by China and Russia “have led to the reemergence of great power competition, the likes of which we have not seen since the Cold War.”
“Freedom of navigation, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, adherence to freedom and democracy, and respect for human rights are all now in jeopardy,” it reads.
To compete with China’s expanding and modernizing military, including a growing nuclear arsenal, the committee members are urging a boost in national-security funding “sufficient to support the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, which is critical for defending U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific.” The Pacific Deterrence Initiative is targeted at increasing direct investments in defense capabilities in the region and bolstering partnerships to counter China.
The budget draft notes that China’s development of “carrier-killing” anti-ballistic missiles threatens to potentially cut off the U.S. from access to the region in the event of a conflict and has therefore changed the U.S. defense calculus there.
China’s progress on hypersonic weapons has been similarly alarming. “In the very near-term China will possess a credible nuclear triad, supported by its growing stockpile and weapon systems capable of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles,” the budget quoted Admiral Charles Richard as observing.
The budget would also fund “a number of the Pentagon’s important, unfunded priorities for INDOPACOM, such as the Guam Defense System, which is a new integrated air and missile defense system for Guam.”
It would also support U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific “by allowing India to access military equipment and services from the U.S. in the same manner that Japan and Australia can under current law.”
On the question of defending Taiwan, the budget endorses a “porcupine strategy,” which would “equip Taiwan with weapons such as anti-ship missiles, air-defense capabilities, and drones which would force China to mount a difficult amphibious landing and sustain a prolonged counterinsurgency.”
It would send Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, “significant quantities of the Naval Strike Missile, an anti-ship weapon which have a range of about 100 nautical miles.” Under the budget, Taiwan would be provided with advanced sea-mine technology to “create a denied-access zone in the Taiwan Strait” as well as Stinger missiles to strike down invading Chinese planes and helicopters.
The budget emphasizes normalizing diplomatic relations with Taiwan, by entering into a potential trade agreement and welcoming it into international organizations to further thwart Chinese influence.
Noting the toll that China’s intellectual property theft has taken on the U.S., the budget would sponsor activities to target “theft, forced data and IP transfers, and other methods of industrial espionage, and would strengthen sanctions related to IP violations.”
The committee members also recognize and condemn in the budget China’s oppression and forced sterilization of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region as a genocide that must be punished by the international community.