The U.S. Congress is charging ahead with more restrictions in a defense authorization bill that would deny the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) investments in highly sensitive sectors and reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese biotechnology companies. Included in the 3,000-page bill approved in December by the House of Representatives is a provision to scrutinize U.S. investments in China that could help develop technologies to boost Chinese military power. The bill, which next heads to the Senate, also would prohibit government money to be used for equipment and services from blacklisted Chinese biotechnology companies.
In addition, the National Defense Authorization Act would boost U.S. support for the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own and says it will take by force if necessary. “Taken together, these measures reflect a serious, strategic approach to countering the Chinese Communist Party,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the CCP.
Congress moves for harsher line
The compromise bill authorizing $900 billion for military programs was released two days after the White House unveiled its National Security Strategy. That strategy dropped language that cast China as a strategic threat and said the U.S. “will rebalance America’s economic relationship with China,” an indication the U.S. is more interested in a mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing.
The White House in December also allowed Nvidia to sell an advanced type of computer chip to China, with those more hawkish toward Beijing concerned that would help boost the country’s artificial intelligence.
The China-related provisions in the traditionally bipartisan defense bill, however, make clear that “Capitol Hill is locking in a hard-edged, long-term competition with Beijing,” said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.
If passed, these provisions would “build a floor under U.S. competitiveness policy — on capital, biotech, and critical tech — that will be very hard for future presidents to unwind quietly,” he said.
U.S. investments in China
U.S. policymakers and lawmakers have been working for several years toward bipartisan legislation to curb investments in China when it comes to cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, aerospace, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
Such a provision made it into the must-pass defense policy bill, welcomed by Rep. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on the CCP. “For too long, the hard-earned money of American retirees and investors has been used to build up China’s military and economy,” he said. “This legislation will help bring that to an end.”
Biosecurity protections
Congress in 2024 rejected the BIOSECURE Act, which cited national security in preventing federal money from benefiting some Chinese biotechnology companies. Critics said then that it was unfair to single out specific companies, warning that the measure would delay clinical trials and hinder development of new drugs, raise costs for medications, and hurt innovation.
The provision in the NDAA no longer names companies but leaves it to the Office of Management and Budget to compile a list of “biotechnology companies of concern.” The bill also would expand military investments in biotechnology.
Moolenaar lauded the effort for taking “defensive action to secure American pharmaceutical supply chains and genetic information from malign Chinese companies.”
The defense bill also would authorize an increase in funding, to $1 billion from $300 million this year, for Taiwan-related security cooperation and direct the Pentagon to establish a joint drone and anti-drone program. Another provision supports Taiwan’s bid to join the International Monetary Fund, which would provide the self-governing island with financial protection from China.