Pandemic-Era Policymaking and the Future of United States- China Relations
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PANDEMIC-ERA POLICYMAKING AND THE FUTURE OF UNITED STATES- CHINA RELATIONS SENATOR MARSHA BLACKBURN 116TH CONGRESS | JULY 22, 2020 0 About Senator Marsha Blackburn: Senator Blackburn has always taken a holistic view of the threat from China. Throughout her career in the United States Congress, she has consistently raised concerns about China’s outsized role in 21st century international politics, even as our nation’s outlook has shifted toward an era of Great Power Competition. Whether related to human rights and value systems, accountability for the opioid crisis, maintaining a military edge, supply chain security, Beijing’s manipulation of Big Tech, or the importance of intellectual property rights, Senator Blackburn has been a strong voice on behalf of democratic values. Even before establishing formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, American policymakers grappled with the unlikely rise of Chinese influence on the international stage; but conflict in the Soviet Union and the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia, and eventually the Middle East deflected attention from Beijing and enabled the Chinese Communist Party’s quiet incursion into conversations normally commanded by Western powers. But with greater visibility came greater scrutiny. In 2005, then-Congresswoman Blackburn built upon her work on behalf of songwriters and pushed Chinese officials to establish initial royalty rates for U.S. copyright owners whose sound recordings are broadcast in China. Her efforts directed sunlight on Beijing’s now-notorious disregard for intellectual property rights, and teed up future pieces of legislation directly targeting Chinese IP theft. That same year, she cosponsored legislation exposing Beijing’s currency manipulation schemes. Throughout her career, Senator Blackburn has viewed Chinese aggression through many lenses, not the least of which that of a human rights advocate. She has repeatedly sponsored legislation exposing Beijing’s use of political violence, speech suppression, and torture to silence dissent and concentrate power in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as legislation directly targeting the complicity of the United Nations Human Rights Council. As the world advanced, so did China advance in its ability to exploit weaknesses in developing technology. In 2019, Senator Blackburn took advantage of growing international unease with Chinese aggression in the digital space to call out high profile Chinese-based corporations like Huawei and ByteDance for building security vulnerabilities into their products. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Blackburn pushed back against Chinese propaganda blaming American interests for the spread of the novel coronavirus, and in May of 2020, she filed the Stop COVID Act, which once passed will allow American victims of the pandemic to sue Chinese officials in U.S. court. In 2018, the people of Tennessee elected Marsha Blackburn as the first woman from the Volunteer State to serve in the United States Senate. She serves on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Veterans Affairs Committee; the Armed Services Committee; the Judiciary Committee; and co-chairs the Judiciary Committee’s Tech Task Force. 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 4 Key Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 6 Historical Context ........................................................................................................................... 7 Communism’s Roots ................................................................................................................... 7 Common Villains and the Role of Political Violence ................................................................. 7 Lenin ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Stalin ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Mao .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Parallels in Modern China ........................................................................................................... 9 From Mao to Xi ....................................................................................................................... 9 Regional Issues ............................................................................................................................. 10 Human Rights ............................................................................................................................ 10 Ideological Conformity.......................................................................................................... 10 Freedom of Speech ................................................................................................................ 11 Tibetans ................................................................................................................................. 11 Uyghurs ................................................................................................................................. 12 Taiwan ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Domestic Chinese Issues ........................................................................................................... 16 China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .................................................. 16 Wildlife Wet Markets ............................................................................................................ 16 China’s Traditional Partners .................................................................................................. 17 Military Issues ............................................................................................................................... 18 Pacific Deterrence ..................................................................................................................... 18 Pacific Deterrence Initiative .................................................................................................. 18 Blue Water Force Projection ................................................................................................. 19 Constellation of Allies and Partners .......................................................................................... 20 International Military Education and Training ...................................................................... 21 Human Capital........................................................................................................................... 22 Transnational Issues ...................................................................................................................... 23 International Organizations ....................................................................................................... 23 2 COVID and the International Community ............................................................................ 24 Belt and Road Initiative............................................................................................................. 25 Digital Silk Road ................................................................................................................... 25 Crime ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Intellectual Property Theft ..................................................................................................... 27 Money Laundering ................................................................................................................ 27 Economic Issues............................................................................................................................ 28 Supply Chain ............................................................................................................................. 29 Pharmaceutical ....................................................................................................................... 29 Medical Devices .................................................................................................................... 30 Natural Resources .................................................................................................................. 30 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) ......................................................................................... 30 U.S. National Laboratory System .......................................................................................... 31 Telecommunications ................................................................................................................. 33 5G .......................................................................................................................................... 33 Data Collection and Network Security .................................................................................. 33 Artificial Intelligence ............................................................................................................