HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/govejqt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: lid
mg ressionaI Research Servic
~rrninc th ieaisIative debat sinc. 1.914
0
December 7, 2022
China and the World: Issues for Congress
The Biden Administration has described the United States
as engaged in a strategic competition to shape the future of
the international order, with the United States' main
competitor being the People's Republic of China (PRC or
China), led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). U.S.
policymakers and analysts assess many CPC ambitions and
PRC actions as challenging the U.S. national interest and
U.S. global leadership. Debates concerning China,
including in the U.S. Congress, center on how to respond to
or counter negative aspects of the PRC's growing global
influence, including PRC actions that may be coercive or
otherwise undermine longstanding international rules and
norms. Legislation and congressional oversight have often
sought to press the executive branch to act in areas in which
it has existing authorities, but, in Congress's assessment,
has not acted sufficiently to address PRC activities.
China's Stated Ambitions
At the CPC's 20th Party Congress in October 2022, China's
top leader, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping, outlined goals
the CPC has set for China to reach in the lead up to 2049, the
centennial of the founding of the PRC.
By 2027, the CPC's aims include to further increase
China's international standing and influence and enable
China to play a greater role in global governance.,
By 2035, the CPC's aims include to [s]ignificantly
increase economic strength, scientific and technological
capabilities, and composite national strength, [b]ecome
a leading country in education, science and technology,
talent, culture, sports, and health, significantly enhance
national soft power, and achieve basic modernization
of national defense and the armed forces.
By 2049, the CPC's aims include to build China into a
great modern socialist country that leads the world in
terms of composite national strength and international
influence, and to make its military, the People's
Liberation Army (PLA), a world-class force.
Regarding Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy of 23
million people over which the PRC claims sovereignty, Xi
stated, as he has done before, that realizing China's complete
reunification-meaning achieving PRC control of Taiwan-is
a natural requirement for realizing the rejuvenation of the
Chinese nation. Xi said the CPC would continue to strive
for peaceful reunification, while reiterating that it would
never promise to renounce the use of force.
The PRC's Global Presence
Examples of the PRC's growing global presence and
congressional responses include:
* Trade and Investment. China has become a top global
investor and financier as its companies have moved
offshore to access raw materials, commodities, and
energy; acquire foreign technology and related
capabilities; and build infrastructure. Members of
Congress have sought to address the growing role of the
PRC state (i.e., Communist Party, military, and
government) in the commercial ecosystem and in
supporting and directing PRC industries' operations,
both overseas and domestically. Members have also
sought to address asymmetrical market access terms the
PRC sets for foreign firms, under which China restricts
foreign firms' ability to compete in China even as PRC
firms expand and acquire foreign firms and capabilities
in the same sectors overseas. Members have sought to
strengthen U.S. authorities and collaboration with like-
minded countries to address PRC industrial policies that
require technology transfer to China and incentivize
China's acquisition of foreign technology by all means,
including theft.
Belt and Road. Through its Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI), also known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR),
launched in 2013, the PRC has sought to develop China-
centered and China-controlled global infrastructure,
transportation, trade, production networks, and
standards. The PRC states that it has signed documents
outlining BRI cooperation with 149 countries and 32
international organizations. In 2018, Congress passed
legislation to restructure existing U.S. development
financing authorities to provide developing countries
alternatives to PRC investment and financing.
International Organizations. China has sought
influence in the United Nations and global technical
bodies to legitimize its approach to such diverse issues
as Taiwan, human rights, and the role of the state in the
economy. As China's economic heft has grown, so has
its ability to affect outcomes within these institutions.
China has steadily increased its role in the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade
Organization. It has also increased its involvement in
technical and standard-setting bodies of the UN and
other institutions. Members have sought to counter
China's influence in these bodies by seeking to expand
the U.S. role and by pressing for more active
collaboration with like-minded countries in these fora.
Coercion. The PRC has increasingly engaged in
sustained, punitive campaigns of diplomatic and
economic pressure against governments and commercial
actors the CPC deems to be challenging China's
interests. In 2021, the PRC cut off direct and secondary
trade with U.S. ally Lithuania over Vilnius' approval of
an unofficial Taiwanese Representative Office. In 2020,
the PRC targeted U.S. ally Australia after Canberra
called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Members have sought to support
governments and firms subjected to such coercion.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govejqt0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)