By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-06 22:41:38 | Updated at 2025-01-08 04:20:47
1 day ago
The US House select committee focused on countering the economic, technological and security threats Beijing might pose has been renewed for two years, with all signs pointing to continuity in its leadership and tough-on-China rhetoric and mission.
The committee was reauthorised late on Friday, with language expanding its scope to cover Beijing’s threat to US allies and partners, as part of a large rules package that also included a special taxation provision for Taiwanese residents who receive income from US-based sources.
“The Chinese Communist Party represents an unprecedented challenge to our economy, our national security, and our values, and we will continue to meet it with the urgency this moment demands,” its leaders, chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, said on Monday.
The committee’s renewal was expected, with leaders from both parties signalling their support in the months before its expiration.
The initial creation of the panel, whose full name is the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, was in January 2023 – a project of then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a reflection of the bipartisan consensus that China was a challenge to be tackled.
But as a “select” rather than a standing committee, it needs to be reauthorised at the start of each new Congress, which lasts for two years. It is also an advisory panel, intended to investigate, hold hearings and make policy recommendations, not advance legislation – though individual members can introduce bills and resolutions for consideration by other committees.
