House Select Committee On The CCP Holds A Hearing On The Biden Administration’s PRC Strategy

the select committee will come to order uh welcome everybody uh we're limited on time in light of votes and I want to get through every member question but I just want our Witnesses and the members to be aware that those are scheduled at some point around 9 45 or 10 uh hence us holding an eight a.m hearing as well as just the general complexity of getting three different agencies on the same page in terms of when they can show up in Congress so we very much appreciate your presence here today you know early in President Biden's term for CCP realists like myself I would say there was a lot to like Secretary of State blinken reiterated the determination that the CCP was committing genocide in xinjiang the administration levied historic export controls on Advanced U.S semiconductors and Equipment going to the PRC the administration then succeeded in aligning its policy with critical allies the Pentagon also reached agreements with the Philippines and Japan to expand our presence in the region and I'd like to congratulate assistant secretary Ratner on the news this week involving Papa New Guinea which is the sister state of the Wisconsin National Guard um they so we played a critical role as well in the midwest these were not easy achievements and I want to give due credit for them but the PNG news aside six or seven months ago I feel like something strange happened it was like some bat signal went up and the administration seemed to shift its focus in its China policy in February we watched the Spy balloon lazily drift over some of our most sensitive military sites while the administration seemed concerned about provoking China and instead of holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable the administration chased CCP diplomats around the world seeking meetings in Beijing as if they not the CCP had something to apologize for and perhaps most troubling the Administration has allowed delayed policies uh has also delayed policies to end a Huawei export licenses restrict outbound Capital flows in critical sectors and hold CCP officials responsible for the uyghur genocide accountable clearly the push for high-level engagement has come at a cost earlier this week assistant secretary crittenberg you claim that the Administration has taken an unprecedented number of actions against China but let us seek truth from Facts the Administration has used every defensive tool from sanctions to entity listings to Chinese military company designations less than the administration before it it has been over two years since a single Hong Kong or PRC official was sanctioned for the erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy the Administration has refused to implement the sanctions required by the bipartisan uyghur human rights Policy Act and while the Administration has added more than 230 PRC entities to The Entity list that is still short of the 260 entities added under the last two years of the previous administration alone the Administration has sanctioned more PRC persons for illegal fishing than it has for genocide I say not all I say all this not to score partisan points when the administration makes good policy I will commend it and have done so the problem in my opinion is that right now good policies are stuck in the interagency process in interagency purgatory apparent sacrifices to the altar of zombie engagement so I hope today that we can have a candid and productive conversation about all of this we're here to conduct oversight but we're also here sincerely I mean this sincerely to offer help because I think we share of you that after on this committee that after Decades of letting our guard down implementing defensive policies towards the largest country in the world is incredibly difficult it's incredibly complex so I expect to hear some tough questions and spirited answers here today but I sincerely believe that we are all on the same side we are the good guys and we must win this competition with that I recognize the ranking member good morning and thank you Mr chairman thank you to the witnesses for coming so early today in a couple weeks Congress will recess and will all go home meet our constituents and hear from them about their priorities including for this very committee ahead of those conversations I'd like to share with you an interesting statistic about how the American people perceive relations between the U.S and the People's Republic of China the PRC according to a Pew survey six percent of Americans see the PRC as a partner while 52 percent see the PRC as a competitor the select committee is focused on winning that competition we've explored the economic competition both through the ccp's actions toward American companies and how we proactively can work with partners and allies and up our own game in America to increase our competitiveness and protect our interests we've also examined the ccp's human rights abuses against the uyghurs and we're investigating how uighur forced labor infects Supply chains and undercuts our American businesses this morning's hearing gives our Witnesses a chance to convey what the Biden Administration is doing to win that competition and it gives the American people a chance to hear important questions about our progress where we are winning and where we are falling short one question I hear from my constituents is the following how do we avoid an open conflict with China the majority of Americans see China as a competitor but they are concerned about that competition turning into a war a survey from late 2021 shows that 71 percent of Americans are concerned about a potential war with China in the next five years and as you can see from the slide Above This concern about a war is widespread regardless of party we don't want a cold war or hot War we don't want an open conflict with the PRC but we also don't want to see a continuation of the ccp's aggressive behavior the type that we've seen over the past year we've seen that behavior in three primary ways cyber attacks aggressive military intercepts and actions against American companies to harm our economy first we've seen CCP directed cyber operations targeting American infrastructure and officials in May the New York Times reported in a PRC hacking operation toward Guam Guam facilities owned by America just last week PRC actors hacked emails of American officials including U.S Secretary of Commerce Gina raimondo these attacks are simply unacceptable we need to know why we were not prepared and what's being done to make sure they don't happen again second we've seen increasingly dangerous behavior in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea earlier this year a pla Air Force jet intercepted a U.S aircraft and a pla Naval vessel engage in a dangerous maneuver against U.S and Canadian ships these actions brought us just one mistake away from a deadly incident it's important that we know how often these incidents are happening and what's being done to re-establish military-to-military Communications so that the chance of War can be minimized finally we're seeing actions by the CCP targeting American companies operating in the PRC from Force technology transfer to state-sanction theft of usip to cyber Espionage and economic coercion these actions are harming our ability to be competitive we need to know what the government is doing to level the playing field to give American workers and entrepreneurs a fair shot at winning the economic competition while preventing a series of retaliatory actions that could severely impact the American economy the American people never shy away from a competition but they do not want a fight I hope our Witnesses here today clearly articulate to everyone listening at home our plan to not just win the economic competition and the global competition against the CCP but to make sure we prevent open conflict I look forward to hearing your testimony and I yield the balance of my time thank you to the ranking member if any other member wishes to submit a statement for the record without objection those statements will be added to the record well uh we are privileged today to be joined by officials from the Department of Defense the state department and the Department of Commerce each of whom brings a unique lens into the Biden administration's PRC strategy as I alluded to it was not easy getting three different agencies here I think my initial request to the administration was for six or seven cabinet level officials I figured I should just shoot for the moon at the start but we we have a great a great mix here uh we have the honorable Daniel J crittenbrink is the assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs The Honorable Eli Ratner is the assistant secretary of defense for indo-pacific security Affairs and I believe uh you are joined by your son Ian is that correct who is in sixth grade Hi Ian thanks for joining us um hopefully you get credit for school for this and The Honorable Miss Taya Rosman kendler is the assistant Secretary of Commerce for export Administration who I also believe has family members in the audience I'm just assuming this is part of a tactic to convince me to be nice I am from Wisconsin um but welcome and thank you all for being here this morning if you could please stand and raise your right hand I will now swear you in do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help you God let the records show that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative you may be seated and with that thank you all Mr crittenbrank you are recognized for your opening remarks for five minutes good morning chairman Gallagher ranking member krishnamurthy distinguished members of the select committee thank you very much for the opportunity to testify before you today I'm truly honored to be here I appreciate this committee's bipartisan approach to strategic competition with the People's Republic of China the Biden Harris Administration is clear-eyed about the challenges posed by the PRC which has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad in challenging the interests and values of the United States as well as our partners and allies China is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly the economic diplomatic military and technological power to do so implementing the core pillars of our PRC strategy invest align compete is working and it is positioning the United States to out-compete China and maintain an enduring Competitive Edge with your help we are investing in the foundations of our strength at home our competitiveness our Innovation our democracy with bipartisan bills like the chips and science act the inflation reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law we are aligning our efforts with our unrivaled network of allies and partners acting in common cause on our approach to build Collective resilience close off vulnerabilities and Advance a shared affirmative Vision including for an indo-pacific region that is free and open Connected secure prosperous and resilient in the indo-pacific we've done so by deepening our alliances with Japan the Republic of Korea Australia Thailand and the Philippines and by strengthening the latticework or network of established Regional organizations such as asean Apec the Pacific island forum and newer flexible Arrangements such as quad August and the partners in the Blue Pacific while also driving our shared Prosperity through the indo-pacific economic framework we've instructed our diplomats to engage on their PRC challenge not just in the indo-pacific where competition is more most pronounced but also globally as Beijing exerts economic diplomatic military and technological pressure in unprecedented ways our objective is not to change the PRC but rather to shape the Strategic environment in which it operates building a balance of influence that is favorable to the United States and our allies and partners by harnessing these key assets we are competing with the PRC to defend our interests build our vision for the future the contest to write the rules of the road and shape the relationships that govern Global Affairs is playing out in every region and across multiple domains we will continue standing up to PRC threats and provocations whether in the South and East China Seas or across the Taiwan Strait to its economic coercion to the prc's attempts to exploit our Cutting Edge Technologies to advance the pla's military modernization and to the prc's increasing acts of transnational repression around the world including here in the United States we will also continue to support the people in Hong Kong as they confront the steady erosion of their rights and we will continue to call out egregious and unacceptable human rights abuses across China including in xinjiang and Tibet and we will seek accountability for those involved in these practices as we compete we are committed to managing this competition responsibly and to maintaining open lines of communication with the PRC intense competition requires intense diplomacy that is the only way to make clear our profound concerns to clear up misperceptions to signal and to explore areas where we might work together to that end last month secretary blinken traveled to Beijing where he Advanced our interests from a position of confidence and strength secretary blinken had candid substantive and constructive conversations his overarching message was to emphasize the importance of maintaining open channels of communication to reduce the risk of miscalculation he made clear that while we are competing vigorously the U.S would responsibly manage competition so that the relationship does not Veer into conflict the secretary stressed that the U.S will continue to use diplomacy to raise directly areas of concern and to explore areas of potential cooperation where our interests align at the same time the secretary was candid that we will continue to defend our interests and our values we have taken and we will continue to take a range of actions against PRC entities involved in human rights abuses non-proliferation and supporting Russia's war in Ukraine we will continue to uphold freedom of navigation in the region by flying sailing and operating wherever international law allows and we will support our allies and partners in the face of PRC threats and coercion in closing let me reiterate our commitment to approaching our PRC strategy in a way that is inclusive and consistent with our values with bipartisan efforts here at home and in lockstep with our allies and partners there are a few issues where bipartisan action is more crucial in coordination with Congress and this committee we are confident that we can and will prevail in our competition with the PRC thank you very much I look forward to your questions thank you Dr Ratner you recognize for five minutes chairman Gallagher ranking member krishnamorthy and distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify today about how the Department of Defense is delivering historic results for peace and deterrence across the indo-pacific region and it's a privilege to be here today with my good friends assistant secretary krittinbrink and assistant secretary kendler on behalf of the dod I can report today that we are clear-eyed about the China Challenge that we are giving it the attention and resources that it deserves and that these efforts are starting to deliver in meaningful ways the 2022 National defense strategy identifies the People's Republic of China as the Department's pacing challenge for good reason which this committee has highlighted over the past several months fundamentally the PRC is the only country in the world with the will and as assistant secretary krittenbrink noted and increasingly the capability to refashion the international order in ways they would deeply undermine vital U.S interests no doubt this challenge is serious but so too has been our response in fact over the past two years the administration in Congress have worked together to ensure that we have a U.S military that is more capable more distributed across the region and more deeply integrated with our allies and partners first with the support of Congress the department is investing in critical capabilities to maintain deterrence and Prevail as necessary in this decade and Beyond the US military is the most capable incredible fighting force in the world and for decades that that basic fact has formed the heart of deterrence throughout the indo-pacific indeed deterrence today is real and deterrence is strong and the department is asking Congress to support historic Investments that will keep it that way these Investments strengthen our warfighting advantages exploit adversary vulnerabilities and address critical operational challenges in the indo-pacific they provide capabilities that was that will serve to strengthen our combat credible deterrent by ensuring we can Prevail in Conflict looking further over the horizon we are also seeking unprecedented levels of funding for research and development these major investments will help us to develop and deploy breakthrough Technologies to deter conflict in the decades ahead second the department is making historic progress toward a regional Force posture that is more mobile distributed resilient and lethal in the past year alone we have announced new Force posture initiatives with some of our closest allies and partners in the indo-pacific with Australia we are increasing rotations of U.S bombers and Fighters through Australian bases while deepening our Logistics cooperation with Japan we have agreed to station the Marine Corps most advanced formation forward for the first time ever in 2025 with the Philippines U.S forces will have access to four new strategic locations across the country as part of our enhanced defense cooperation agreement and with Papua New Guinea where secretary Austin will be traveling next week as the first U.S Secretary of Defense ever to visit PNG we recently concluded a defense cooperation agreement that will increase Regional stability by deepening our bilateral security cooperation Mr chairman I know we share this priority and this Administration is laser focused on modernizing our indo-pacific Force posture to meet this moment third and finally we are leveraging one of our greatest strategic advantages by deepening our alliances and Partnerships in on that in almost every instance are stronger than they have ever been the department is supporting our indo-pacific allies and partners as they invest in themselves in their own strength in their relationships with each other and in their relationships with the United States we're supporting Japan's efforts to acquire new Counter-Strike capabilities we've launched a major new technology initiative with India and we are working with countries across southeast Asia to acquire asymmetric capabilities to counter beijing's coercive activities consistent with long-standing U.S policy we are also supporting taiwan's self-defense in the face of the prc's threats of aggression and ongoing pressure campaign Mr chairman ranking member we are making substantial progress in bolstering deterrence in the indo-pacific and strengthening our strategic position in this most vital region nevertheless there is still much to do and it is critical that we continue moving forward with urgency and with resolve to that end we will need your continued partnership to keep delivering and the department looks forward to working with this committee and the entire Congress to meet our pacing challenge thank you for your time and attention and I look forward to your questions thank you Dr Ratner assistant secretary kendler you are now recognized for five minutes chairman Gallagher ranking member krishnamurthy does distinguished members of the for inviting me to testify about the Biden administration's China strategy from the perspective of the Commerce Department's Bureau of industry and security bis I appreciate your role in seeking to identify measures to counter the national security threat to the United States and our allies and partners that is posed by the CCP particularly with respect to the ccp's efforts to obtain and develop critical technology in support of China's military modernization and human rights abuses bis's mission is to effectively control exports and promote continued U.S strategic technology leadership to advance U.S national security and foreign policy day by day we aggressively and appropriately contend with the Strategic technology threat posed by China through the export Administration arm of bis which I lead we identify sensitive U.S technologies that would give our adversaries an advantage and develop the policies and strategies to protect such Technologies we carefully review data industry information and classified reporting to assess the availability of foreign technology and the effectiveness of our controls as well as foreign entities and users that require extra scrutiny together with our interagency partners in the Departments of Defense State and energy we review license applications submitted by exporters to determine whether specific transactions are consistent with U.S national security and foreign policy interests each agency brings its unique expertise and understanding of China to this analysis complemented by input from our intelligence community and law enforcement partners we strategically use our tools to counter China's efforts to outpace the United States and our allies and to modernize its military this is particularly necessary given China's military civil Fusion strategy under the ccp's government system which requires the United States to impose stronger export controls targeting Advanced commercial items that can be used also in military applications our export controls function through both technology and entity-based controls technology controls typically are framed in terms of performance specifications the advanced Computing rule we released on October 7th last year is a prime example of a bis technology control one which has proven to be extremely effective in restricting China's ability to use artificial intelligence and supercomputing power to develop its military by targeting the hardware semiconductors semiconductor manufacturing equipment and other items that provide the Computing capacity to train Advanced AI models there has been much reporting on our efforts to refine the advanced Computing Rule and publish a revised rulemaking we were grateful to receive extensive public input on the original Rule and are indeed working to ensure our measures are as effective as possible to protect U.S national security although I can't provide a preview of those actions at this time my team and I look forward to working with committee members at the appropriate time to explain our approach in depth in terms of entity-based controls we base them on specific and articulable evidence regarding foreign entities that pose a threat to U.S national security or foreign policy working with our interagency partners we add such organizations to the bis entity list and require authorization before U.S technology may be shipped to them of the 772 China parties on the bis entity list 237 or around one-third were added during this Administration for both our technology and entity-based controls I can't overstate how critical our Global Partners are whether we align controls through an international export controls Coalition or Implement them by ourselves we know that controls are most effective when they evenly affect all relevant industry around the world we share our risk assessments whether they're about misuse of technology or reliability of companies with allies and partners and work diligently to develop common approaches to issues of common concern I'll conclude by noting that we are not using export controls to pursue economic decoupling from China our approach to China is calibrated and targeted we seek to counter China's military modernization by restricting key sensitive Technologies and exports to specific entities of concern without undercutting U.S technological leadership or unduly interfering with commercial trade that doesn't undermine U.S national security thank you for this engagement today I look forward to your questions thank you Miss kendler in your written testimony you write that quote ensuring that U.S technology is not used against us is Central to our approach with the PRC we have recent reporting indicating however that the Administration has delayed a new licensing policy that would finally restrict all U.S technology from going to Huawei affirm I think few if any would deny is deeply hostile to U.S interests so I'll go this way this way Dr Ratner if the vote came before the end user Review Committee today to restrict all U.S technology going to Huawei how would you vote Yes or no uh Congressman I'm not a voting member of that committee um but I think we are still waiting on data and information about the costs of actions like that when we assess them and I don't think we have that information yet to have rendered a final decision so let me rephrase it as I suspected this would happen uh do you believe Dr Radner that U.S technology should go to a company that spies on the U.S like Huawei uh no congressman Mr crittenberg do you believe that U.S technology should go to a company that spies on the U.S like Huawei no I believe we should take steps necessary to defend our national security and we will and we have Miss kendler do you believe that U.S technology should go to a company that spies on the U.S like Huawei yes or no no I do not we are very clear in our national security approach to Huawei absolutely no advanced technology is permitted under our regulations I'd also note that under our Advanced Computing rule of last October we've targeted technology used by companies like Huawei and that that broad technology sector approach applies to companies across the PRC and perhaps in a way that is even more effective than an entity-specific listing so I just want to note that we had three of the four agencies involved in U.S export control policy three of the four that have a vote on the ERC say that U.S technology should not enable Huawei and I hope Miss kendler that your agency will be submitting to the ERC a request for a vote on denying all U.S technology to Huawei it is my view that we can't delay this action any longer and I think that gets to a core concern I won't speak for any other member but I alluded to my opening statement the idea that we may be delaying defensive action in order to pursue economic and diplomatic in engagement with the People's Republic of China and to that end Mr Crim being on Tuesday at the house Foreign Affairs committee you acknowledge that the administration is not sanctioned a single official under the uyghur human rights Policy Act have you ever advised secretary blinken uh deputy secretary Sherman or any other senior U.S government official to delay sanctioning PRC officials under the uyghur human rights Policy Act Mr chairman two two responses one we've taken a range of actions not under the uyghur human rights protection act but a range of other actions including under Global magnitsky and a range of entity listenings and also visas restrictions to punish and hold accountable uh Chinese officials uh I'm not in a position to comment in detail on matters that are pre-decisional and under deliberation but have you ever advised like a senior U.S government official to delay sanctions under that act I'm not in a position to comment on pre-decisional matters that are under deliberation what I can assure you I'm talking about sort of this is pre-decision I'm talking about past actions that you've done have you ever advised for matters that are under deliberation I'm not going to comment in detail on any discussions that may or may not have happened but we don't want to you don't want to answer the question I will commit to you what I committed to our uh to uh chairman McCollin and other HVAC committee members we are committed to enforcing U.S law we have done so when we will do so including under this act and including against a range of xinjiang officials consistent with what we've done today I guess I'll ask one more time so you you have you ever advised any senior U.S government official to delay sanctions under the uyghur uh human rights and Policy Act what I have advised is that we will carry out our obligations under the law but I'm not going to comment on the details of our internal deliberations okay uh so I I um I obviously disagreed with your assessment that the Administration has taken an unprecedented number of actions against the PRC in terms of like a net assessment of what you've done versus the previous administration is is there any metric by which you you've done more what I would say Mr chairman is it's it's the number of actions it's the consequence what then is the number relative to the previous administration which you can I mean it should be I'm talking about the whole scope of our actions across the board to build American National Power and defend our interests that was would be entity listings those would be treasury sdn listings uh those would be the advanced Computing rule but if your claim is you've done more unprecedented that's the word he is what give me the number that's that proves that claim the the numbers that that I refer to are more are approximately 250 into the listings 150 treasury sdn listings a range of other visas is that more like just give me so take that so what I'm tracked or in front of the previous administration similar domain when you take the whole story I'm a liberal arts major but what remains would be more if it's unprecedented what I'm arguing sir is if you take the whole range of our actions I would argue that their impact and their scope is understood I'm out of time but um I would appreciate it uh if if you would come back to this committee again I could be wrong just show me the numbers just prove this this perhaps unprecedented claim that you have done unprecedented actions against the CCP uh and I and I will say that I'm wrong if if I have the numbers in front of me so with that I recognize the ranking member thank you Mr chair Dr Ratner over the last several months the pla has increasingly intercepted American ships and aircraft in the South China Sea these Waters account for one third of global Maritime trade let's take a look at a map of the prc's sovereignty claims which are called the nine dash line oh wait no not that one can we get the other one guys okay the best that's better in Congress this is the South China Sea and this is the nine dash line which lays claim to almost the entirety of the South China Sea now Dr Ratner neighboring countries completely reject the PRC sovereignty claims over the entire South China Sea correct that's correct those those uh the not only the countries on the periphery but the United Nations orbital tribunal has also ruled that the prc's claims are illegal under international law and and not only that but the all this ruling that you refer to quote unquote null and void right that's correct let's see the impact of the prc's view of international law in December 2022 a Chinese fighter jet flew within 20 feet of a U.S plain above the South China Sea and then here in June just last month a Chinese warship cut off a U.S destroyer at a length of 150 yards isn't that right that's correct it appears to me that the CCP believes that these dangerous Maneuvers will somehow deter us from exercising our freedom of freedom of navigation but isn't it fair to say that their dangerous actions will have no such impact absolutely Congressman we have said again and again publicly and privately to the PRC that their actions will not deter us and that we will continue to operate fly sail and operate wherever international law allows thank you let me turn to another topic that comes up all the time with my constituents which is cyber hacking I think all of us in this room have been hacked to some degree this is something that we can all understand in fact I just learned last week that one of my own staff here on the select committee had his own LinkedIn account hacked this is my staff member his name is Jack meet Jack Jack was proud to join this committee so he went to update his LinkedIn profile and this is what he found this is not Jack now his name is by Lulu and he is a proud graduate of Xi'an jiaotang University this is an example of what happens to Americans every single day and apparently it happened to Administration officials just recently now miss kendler last Tuesday the Commerce Department confirmed that secretary raimondo's government email had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers correct Microsoft did notify the department of a compromise to its Office 365 system and we took immediate action to respond the uh and we're monitoring our systems I'm not in a position to characterize the secretary's email Well published Reports say that you and and Mr crittenbrink we learned that the state department was also targeted can you rule out whether you or your staff's emails were hacked as well as Tay indicated I can't comment on an investigation that's underway being conducted by the FBI but no I will not rule it out you can't rule it out look it turns out that Chinese Law requires that any software companies doing business in the PRC are required to share their source code as well as vulnerabilities in their source code code with the CCP what I'm concerned about is that these software companies then turn around and might sell those same pieces of software to Americans including the United States government so I would demand that you please go back to the administration and talk about how we can prevent compromises of our United States government accounts based on Chinese law and compliance with Chinese law by American companies now Mr crittenbrink let me turn to the last topic I I want to bring up last month secretary blinken said that quote the understanding that any differences regarding Taiwan will be resolved peacefully is foundational to how we understand our relationship with the PRC China's foreign Ministry shockingly did not agree with this statement and they said quote this distorted America's political promise to them now Mr crittenbrink when the U.S established diplomatic relations with the PRC starting in the 1970s each of our communique is clearly laid out and reaffirmed our quote interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question isn't that right Mr ranking members absolutely correct it from the very beginning our policy and our approach has been predicated on the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan straight and peaceful resolution blinken's statement did not distort any promise that we ever made to the PRC of course not in effect the PRC Is gaslighting Us by trying to redefine the reality of our commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan question right I'm not going to speak to beijing's position what I can confirm Mr ranking member we're absolutely committed to maintaining our One China policy into meeting our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to assist Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability we'll meet those obligations there hasn't been any change to our One China policy over the last four years and that approach has been fundamental to maintaining peace and stability if there's a threat to changing the Status Quo into undermining that peace and stability it's the prc's increasingly aggressive and coercive measures taken against Taiwan thank you of the many things I admire about the ranking member his chart game is at the top of the list uh Mr Luke Demar is recognized for five minutes thank you thank you Mr chairman um Mr Osmond Kindler uh while struggling today China's economy is estimated by Goldman Sachs to possibly overtake the United States for the next 10 years most notably in 2022 United the US had a 382 billion dollar trade deficit with China in 1991 year before the collapse the U.S had a trade surplus of over 2 billion dollars with USSR right before their collapse would the CCP be able to afford their military operations build attention cam subsidize their Industries against ours if they had a trade deficit with the U.S instead of a surplus of 382 billion dollars Congressman I'm not in a position to to speak to uh that that issue I'm uh are you not with Commerce which overseas and you made a whole big long speech in your opening state with regards to trade I'm asking a question about the benefit of us having trade relationships with China and in this situation we're in a trade deficit with them they have we are we're funding by 382 billion dollars of a deficit their activities would you not agree with that we we are aggressively attending with contending with the Strategic trade threat posed by no you're not no you're not I'm tired of your flowery language this morning please answer the question do you do you agree that by us trading with them we are allowing our money to flow that way which helps their economy which helps them to be able to build attention camps against their own people subsidize their Industries against ours and build up their military it's a pretty simple question I believe that the world's biggest economy should continue commercial trade that does not affect and harm our national security interests okay so our innovation in the United States is driven by export uh exports well question for you then we had uh one of the dissidents from the and Survivor of trinityman square had actually had two of them talked to us recently and we asked the question of one of them both of them and one unresponded what happens what should we do to be helpful to the Chinese people and his comment was quit helping the Chinese government that's all he said there was a hush over the room quit helping the Chinese government implying that when you help the government they hurt us when you help the government they hurt you your policy Miss Rosman kendler helps the Chinese government your inability to answer my first question tells me you don't care you understand the Chinese are the biggest bully on the planet they determine the rules of the playground they determine the relationships on the playground and as long as you're able to play footsie around the edges we're never going to be able to Corral them and my first question is with regards to them being able to overtake us with their economy when they overtake us we're done they will be able to dictate all sorts of things to all economic their Partners around the world including the reserve currency status which means they can take us through the fire shot at some point we have to understand we cannot continue to be playing footsies with these guys and my question then yes is how can you how would you respond to that to that detainee when he said stop helping to Chinese government why would you respond to him we've undertaken a Litany of steps at the Department of Commerce to make sure that the Chinese government the CCP does not have access to technology that they can use to threaten U.S national security interests and that is specifically focused at uh government programs at the use of dual use civilian Technologies by the military we have military and use controls in place Madam killer we had testimony in this committee already that they were able to break in if it's 14 out of 16 agencies the defend part of the fence come on tell me you're not you're not serious about this this response they can take anything in the world and we've already had testimony here that they get between 200 and 600 billion dollars worth of intellectual property from the United States every year that's not a serious response on your part we've got to stop everything going to China if we don't they use everything against us and your willingness to continue to play games with them and be a partner with them endangers us down the road I'm I'm at a loss for words with that I yield back my time Mr Moulton is recognized for five minutes uh thank you Mr chairman um Mr chairman you started this hearing by explaining how important it is that we engage in tough questions and that spirited debate has been a Hallmark of this committee's work and the Hallmark of our hearings but I think to accuse people with the record of service of our three Witnesses this morning of not caring is a bit beyond the pale now as members of the administration you have also been accused of so-called zombie diplomacy which is to say you're meeting with Chinese officials with no goals in mind to quote our chairman the siren song of Engagement invariably leads to appeasement in the face of foreign aggression this would come as quite shocking news to any fan of Ronald Reagan or student of U.S Soviet relations and arms control indeed conservatives in the 1980s made some of these same accusations against the Reagan Administration when the president decided to engage in arms discussions with the Soviets now we have been briefed as a committee about critical Communications senior U.S military leaders have had with their Chinese counterparts to reinforce our deterrent posture I'd like to ask our Witnesses if there is any additional value Beyond communicating our clear deterrent to engaging in any diplomacy or for that matter simply communication with our Chinese counterparts our Chinese government officials uh Admiral crittenberg crittenberg crops we'll start with you thank you very much Congressman uh respectfully I would just say uh we have pursued these diplomatic engagements with China from a position of confidence and strength based on the last two and a half years of work in this administration building our sources of strength at home the unprecedented work we've done to strengthen our Allied and partner relationships in the region and from that position we're quite confident uh in engaging uh with the Chinese we've done so mostly sir as you indicated to make sure that we have channels of communication so we don't risk a miscalculation could Veer into conflict it is a valuable way to convey very directly our concerns these engagements are often tense they're rarely Pleasant they are extremely important however other benefits of these engagements other things that we are striving for are to pursue limited areas where it's in our national interest to cooperate whether that be on getting detained Americans released on reducing the flow of precursor chemicals that are used to synthesize Fentanyl and synthetic opioids and a range of other issues and I would also argue you Mr Congressman that our allies and partners are standing with us in an unprecedented way but they're also worried about the risk of conflict and miscalculation and they are reassured to know that at a minimum there are open channels of communication between now sir you just used the word unprecedented uh again I'm curious if hearing an American commander-in-chief tells Xi Jinping that we love each other was unprecedented or not Congressman I'm sorry I don't understand your question well the previous administrator under the previous administration the president of the United States uh said after a meeting with Xi Jinping at Davos that we love each other was that unprecedented I see I'm not sure how to respond to that sir I would simply say our approach is to be very clear-eyed and tough when we engage with our Chinese counterparts and I think thank you very much for your professionalism um uh Mr Ratner could you or Dr Ratner could you comment on this as well is there any value that you seek from DOD and engaging uh with Chinese government officials in in carrying out diplomacy uh Congressman uh secretary Austin has been very clear since the beginning of the administration that the department is interested in open lines of communication with the PRC unfortunately by and large they have not responded to those requests we do see value in particular instances with very clear eyes about the realities of those exchanges for one we want to be able to communicate with the PRC uh during crises for instance after we shot down their spy balloon the secretary requested a call with his counterpart which was not taken but that would have been a valuable time to able to explain our intentions and great example and I'm going to interrupt just because I'm running out of time uh this Candler you may have to take this for the record but we as a committee have heard uh reporting and Analysis of how much trouble the Chinese economy is in we've also heard a lot of anecdotal reports of Chinese Business Leaders trying to leave the country for the record if you could give us some idea of how we might capitalize on that use that as leveraged to our advantage I'd appreciate it thank you Mr chairman gentleman knows the sequencing of course matters Reagan of course built up hard power prior to engaging at Reykjavik and in other fora he was also willing to wage ideological Warfare aggressively against the Soviet Union which is an absence of our current strategy so I just would say since I was invoked that de taunt without a credible military deterrent is like music without instruments but Mr Newhouse is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman thank you all for being here with us this morning Mr crittendenbrink you brought up the subject of fentanyl precursors that's one of the questions that I wanted to delve into this morning I certainly don't have to talk about the crisis that we're experiencing in this country with with fentanyl which obviously harms the lives of so many people across the country whether large urban areas or small rural communities I certainly believe that we need to crack down on this problem and so I just want to ask what the administration is doing to address this apparent indifference in fact denial by China that they are engaged in this in the production and distribution of the precursors of fentanyl what are you considering doing as far as actions whether it be on the entity list in exchange for cooperation you know we're doing several things in in Congress but and so one of the reasons we have you here is is as a resource we wanted to ask what what more could Congress do to help the administration in this role to fight back on this issue Congressman thank you agree with everything you said this is a national crisis this is the uh as as you well know this is the leading cause of death as I understand it for Americans under 50 now um I would I would highlight three things that we're doing to crack down on this one we are taking punitive actions and sanctions against those firms including just in the last few weeks against Chinese firms uh who knowingly are exporting precursor chemicals to be synthesized uh into opioids secondly uh we are working to build an International Coalition of like-minded countries to cooperate to crack down on the flow of these chemicals and secretary blinken just I believe was uh two weeks ago uh held a large meeting with almost 90 countries to get at this question unfortunately the PRC did not attend that meeting despite being invited and thirdly we are engaging the Chinese aggressively uh to demand that that they take steps to crack down on the flow of these chemicals we have proven in the past China has proven in the past that when it wants to it can take steps it did schedule fentanyl several years ago that led to a dramatic drop in the flow of fentanyl out of China the problem now of course is that companies are exporting the precursor chemicals and then they're synthesized elsewhere we're going to continue to pursue all those lines of effort but we've been very direct and candid with the Chinese on this point we're going to take steps to protect ourselves if we can't if the Chinese will not work with us to make progress we'll take the steps we think necessary to protect ourselves thank you very much and I look forward to I'll take this as an opportunity to continue working with you on I'd be honored to do that sir the the other thing I wanted to delve into just a little bit in a short amount of time we have is has to do with Agriculture and the biotechnology issues that China is using for both military applications as well as human rights abuses recently we've some of the members of this committee as well as others have introduced legislation to expand the authority of cypheus that Council on Foreign investment to to address some of these issues which I think would if enacted would authorize larger jurisdictions over land purchases by foreign military adversaries in our country so just real quickly my question has to do with um the these authorities uh um do you believe that these are providing these authorities are will be effective can we do more should we be doing more um are there other factors that we should be considering in the in this effort to get a handle on foreign purchases of agricultural land in the United States by adversaries and I'd address that to either uh Mr Rattan or Dr Ratner or Miss Kendra Congressman we I appreciate that question we do participate in the cifiers process along along with the other agencies represented here we um this is certainly something that we're tracking and and paying a great deal of attention to I think we need to refer you to the Department of the treasury for further detail on on how they are looking at the question of agricultural land in the cepheus process but we certainly are are eager to to work with you and your team on this and and better understand uh the issues facing facing your constituents and and others across the country Dr Ratner any response Congressman I'll just say uh have to take a closer look at the specific legislation but absolutely support efforts to prevent uh adversarial ownership of sensitive land Industries and sectors and and biotechnology is one we're taking careful look at thank you again miss Connor's recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you uh for your bipartisan leadership on the committee I will say despite your efforts to make this as high profile a committee probably the most significant thing happening on U.S China relations today is not in the hearing but Dr Kissinger meaning Gigi ping as we speak and meeting all the high-level leaders in China and I say that because I think there's an area in the committee where there's clearly bipartisan agreement and that is as Congressman Luke Meyer has made the point you've made the point Congressman Whitman others we've hollowed out our industrial base we have had massive trade deficits go would China increase since joining the World Trade Organization I since we allowed China to join I believe that's a colossal mistake I mean you look at the top 15 steel companies in the world and the United States doesn't have a single one nine of them are in China how in the world did we allow that to happen as a country it was a bipartisan mistake for 40 years and I think on this committee there can be an agreement that we need to start rebuilding the industrial base and reducing the trade deficit with China I just quickly would love to get a yes or no with all three Witnesses do you agree that we need to do far more to reduce the trade deficit with China and bring some of these critical Industries back home uh secretary we start with secretary bradner honorable Congressman I agree well Congressman I would say that absolutely we have to take a range of steps to protect our national security and invest in our sources of strength at home I think we're doing absolutely that and you would agree we have to lower this trade deficit certainly it's in our interest to lower the deficit I think more importantly it's we should address uh distortionary economic policies on the part of China protectionist and discriminatory policies on the part of China and actions that undermine our economic and National Security it's a great Candler particularly on the technology front returning Innovation to America and and I think the chips act in particular is a really strong issue I I look I help write the chips act but does it return Innovation to America is the story we've been saying for 40 years while we hollowed out the manufacturing base I mean I I think we've got to be a little more specific let's return steel let's return manufacture we said we're going to do all the invention we'll do all this stuff in Silicon Valley you go to places like Lordstown Ohio and they're hollowed out if I was there I'd be terribly upset at failed American leadership for 40 years well we just watched as steel left as aluminum left I mean can we make a commitment we're going to start to lower the trade deficit I I come at this from a national security perspective but I absolutely know that the Commerce department wants to work with you and and your team on these issues so let me take that back and we will um continue our our good cooperation on this I appreciate I think that should be a bipartisan uh metric in terms of what this country needs to do to write the shift I think the president has been taking efforts there I think the previous president raised legitimate issues of the hollowing out of American manufacturing base and it seems to me one thing we can come together on I did want to commend secretary blinken on his recent trip to China and his affirmation of a policy that a republican initiated Dr Kissinger which was the one China policy I know he's taken heat for saying that he affirmed that policy and and rejected uh Taiwanese Independence but my view is you can assist Taiwan as many of us want to in getting them defense getting them weapons but still affirm the one China policy architected by Dr Kissinger and my view secretary blinken was appropriate in saying that could you comment on that yes Congressman there's been absolutely no change to our One China policy as you know it's based on the Taiwan relations act the three joint communication the six assurances to Taiwan the secretary uh in Beijing outlined that policy he did not say anything new and and I would just again I'll reiterate what I said earlier we will meet our obligations into the Taiwan Relations Act to assist Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense focuses on peace and stability and maybe one last Comic Congressman I just have 25 seconds so I sorry I apologize I just I suggest a fourth communique which is to lower the trade deficit and bring manufacturing home by either president any president in this country but I appreciate your comment thank you Congressman the only comment I was going to add was we absolutely are not pulling our punches in any way either in any way before these engagements after them I think you've seen that over the last two and a half years you'll continue to see that going forward including on our one channel policy thank you Dr Dunn Dr Don you are recognized for five minutes absorbed in reading the memorandum thank you very much Mr chairman so strategic competition with China is one of the defining issues obviously of this Congress and now more than ever we must be focused on understanding and responding um I think each of you for showing up yeah it's my sincere hope that the Congress and the administration can work together to fulfill the mission of for the sake of the American people unfortunately a number of the policies in this Administration have only emboldened the leadership of CCP and I think speaker McCarthy was correct but he said the danger posed by our dependence on child is dire we could go on and on about China's growing hold on the U.S from Supply chains and economic dependency fentanyl um but what we need is a course correction however today I want to consider one of the very real threats China poses to some of our allies and Friends specifically those in the indo-pacific region the Pacific island nations U.S relationship with the Pacific Islands was forged 80 years ago when millions of Americans left their homes to fight for freedom on the beaches of Terror law and Bella loon in the jungles of Guadalcanal Bougainville over a hundred thousand Americans sacrificed their lives and after the war we mostly withdrew from the region there were still some U.S presence I actually had the privilege of serving the Pacific Islands as an army surgeon and I've provided care many of those Nations Meeting those people under those conditions you get to know them and these are really good good people largely there's been a posture of neglect the people we fought alongside have and helped liberate we've we've forgotten let's recall we needed access to those islands when we wanted to take the war to Japan and now they're under attack again poster we have our question good the post had just gone up on the screen behind me illustrates how the CCP has infiltrated our friends in the Pacific island nations the countries in red recognize Beijing countries in green recognize Taiwan there used to be a lot more green if a country recognizes Taiwan that means it doesn't have a Chinese Embassy there as you likely know these Embassy act as hubs and incubators for malign activities that's why we closed our Houston Consulate in 2020. the CCP is counting on the U.S to remain passive in these countries so that they could take over the islands are just as valuable strategically to China as they were to Imperial Japan the CCP is launching a new kind of attack mostly on the political Warfare front but the effects on the ground are very very real and they include economic dependency and social destruction this is China's greater new wall greater Wall of China we're obligated to remember our bonds with the good people of Pacific Islands to rebuild these bonds and to work with them to defeat the attack on their freedoms and quite frankly our strategic interests of secretary crittenberg the then president of the federal States of Micronesia David panuelo released three letters over the last two years that laid out in detail the prc's comprehensive and pernicious political Warfare against the Federated States of Micronesia and other Islands as well Mr chairman I'd like to enter those letters into the record Mike okay thank you um the letters by the way the title uh of the article that accompanies the letters is micronesia's President writes bombshell letter on China's political Warfare authored by Cleo Pascal in the Diplomat uh so his letters were a cry for help from us in his March 23 letter president panuelo wrote as a result of aggressive political Warfare on his country by Beijing he was in well-advanced negotiations with Taipei to switch his country's recognition back to Taiwan this would have been a huge win for the Free World and the people of Micronesia but it didn't happen um can you explain to me what the state department did to assist the federal State's Micronesia Taipei negotiations at that time Congressman I don't know if I can respond specifically to what happened right at that time but what I can say is absolutely agree with you about the centrality uh of our Partnerships with our Pacific island friends uh under this Administration we have dramatically stepped up our game thanks to support from uh Congress we're expanding our diplomatic footprint in the region we've opened new embassies in Solomon Island zintonga we are working on opening my time unfortunately is inspired I will submit other questions for the record thank you I yield back thank you Ms Kim is recognized five minutes thank you Mr chair thank you for coming early this morning to be able to talk with us Mr credenbrink I want to start with you you and I have had some conversations before in the Foreign Affairs committee about Coalition building and I wanted you to just kind of share with this committee what how do you think of the importance of Coalition building to the work that we're trying to do vis-a-vis China and across the indo-pacific thank you Congressman I would argue that uh revitalizing and strengthening our Allied and partner relationships is the most important part of our entire approach to the indo-pacific and also argue it's the most important part of our China strategy thank you Dr Radner what are your thoughts how how would you position the importance of Coalition building in the war that DOD is doing the position ourselves to prepare for anything that could occur in that theater uh Congressman Kim it's absolutely Central to our strategy it's Central to deterrence and in some instances to war fighting and we've made great progress in this Regard in terms of supporting our allies ability to strengthen our own capabilities deepening our bilateral alliances and Partnerships and also linking together our alliances in unprecedented ways I think the two of you would say that there's still more work to be done as I've correct Mr crittenberg absolutely I think again I think what we've achieved is unprecedented but we have to keep at it you should do absolutely and we're getting on a plane with the secretary down to Australia uh next week to continue these efforts with the recent engagements that our government has been doing with most notably secretary blinken and others Mr critten Brink how is that being perceived by our partners is that helping or hurting our ability to build these coalitions I would say each of our partners is communicated just that they welcome that Outreach again our partners are very clear-eyed about the challenges that China poses they communicate that with with us as well they have been reassured and gratified by our um uh re-energized commitment to the region and building those Partnerships but they're also reassured by our engagement with the Chinese because no one wants to see conflict in the region one thing that you mentioned before in a different setting that I thought was important to elucidate here uh I think we were expressing how you know different partners they've expressed that it's important for the United States to be seen as being a responsible actor that not either one that's being the provocateur the one that is destabilizing relations is that correct Dr crittenbrink I think it's absolutely correct I think it's clear who's challenging the rules-based order in the status quo in the region and that is the PRC but I think when we continue to demonstrate that we are committed to the long-term uh uh prospects of the region that we are the responsible uh actor I think is very much uh to our benefit Dr Abner your thoughts on this how important is it that we be seen as being the responsible actor to show that we're using every in all means to be able to avoid conflict as possible it's fundamentally important uh congressman and that is why it is so important to us to operate uh in accordance with international law and responsibly as we do throughout the region so the this is um I've raised these points because we're having a fundamental debate here right now not just in this room but here on Capitol Hill about the role of diplomacy about the role of Coalition building about these different Tools in our toolbox and I'll be honest with you I'm getting pretty alarmed by where the trajectory is going you know we've seen how the House Appropriations Committee has been moving forward uh when it comes to the State Foreign Ops uh spending portion 24 below the president's request I I guess Mr krenbring I want to ask you from your perspective what would that do to our ability to execute our strategy in the indo-pacific and vis-a-vis China thank you Congressman I had the opportunity to speak to this in front of the HVAC Asia subcommittee just a couple of days ago I I think that drastic cuts to our budget in this era of strategic competition would be devastating to what we're trying to achieve and as we're working aggressively to out-compete China this isn't the time to withdraw or reduce our investments I think it's the time to increase those Investments that's why the president has submitted the budget request that he has and Dr Radner am I correct in thinking that that doesn't just hurt us on the Diplomatic side does that impact you and in addition I want to bring on top of that you know the fact that we got about 275 General officers and flag offers are being held up in terms of their appointments how does that you know these types of missteps and and honestly self-inflicted wounds affect your ability on the dod side Congressman when uh our three secretaries appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this year secretary Austin was very clear that DOD succeeds when our partner agencies succeed so absolutely when it comes to the strength of diplomacy in our Economic Policy it's fundamentally essential to our ability to succeed in the defense realm uh and uh as it relates to nominations uh I think as is true with the state department we will succeed when we have our teams in place and I think our senior officials have been very clear about how important that is thank you Miss Steel's recognized for five minutes Mr chairman and thank you Mr ranking member before I start I want to introduce our next leaders because I have four interns actually sitting here Caitlin Danielle and Brian and Serena right there I can't see you need to stand I guess I don't have the power to compel you I got it thank you yeah I was very eager to see our colleagues and the senate pass Taiwan trade bill this week Congress stands ready to work and grow trade partnership across the world but it also showed the congresses has constitutional authority over trade agreements the U.S is one on the sidelines in the in the Pacific region when it comes to comprehensive Trade Agreement although in the Pacific economic Frameworks motivates are genuine I urge all of you to work with Congress to build the true trade agreement with the constitutional safeguards assistant secretary Clinton ring you stated that you are aligning our efforts with our unrivaled network of allies and partners acting in common cause on our approach to build Collective resilience last year I brought to the administration about including Taiwan in the in the in the Pacific economic framework because we want to share the economic benefits and we try to stand up to actually CCP although we are happy with bilateral trade deal with the Taiwan still it's very tiny and it has to build more why leave them out of ipef if they are like-minded true Ally thank you congresswoman for a question um we're very committed to building our partnership with Taiwan our very important robust but unofficial partnership there are top 10 trading partner leading global economy and I think if you see for example our new 21st century trade agreement that we're absolutely committed to building out our trade relationship to our our mutual benefit and we'll we'll continue to do that the way that ipf is currently configured it has 14 Partners that's where we're focused for now but that's really interesting to see though because when we try to stand up to CCP and we are not including Taiwan for that and because Taiwan has a lot of important industries that they we have to work with and they are actually um investing in the United States and try to work together so I think that's really important that trade yes that's the really happy um ending but it's still very tiny bit so we really have to extend that too so secretary uh candle Candler and uh secretary Clinton bring California's Mountain Pass is the only large scale Rare Earth mine in the United States what's alarming is that the minerals are shipped to China if you know that I hope we are all concerned the US and Europe are reliant on the CCP for critical material and they're buying from other countries such as like Malaysia 95 of rare earth minerals that they are buying America needs to stay at The Cutting Edge of innovation we do things safer and cleaner than any other Nation if everyone needs to be driving new electric vehicle by 2030 we need to allow for safe and clean mining within the United States having said that do you agree the United States should be leaning leading in mining and processing critical minerals and that it would be a huge economic boost for many cities across the country will you work to allow for more domestic Mining and do you agree it would be safer and cleaner compared to other mines in the world ma'am what I would say we absolutely believe that it is not in our interest or in the world's interest to have us to be overly dependent on any one country regarding critical Supply chains especially when it with regard to critical minerals that's why we're pursuing things like the the mineral security partnership that's why we focus so much on building resilient and secure Supply chains to reduce those vulnerabilities so we are absolutely focused on that we're working on it aggressively with our partners around the world well it's not just Partners but we have to build our own Mining and we can bring our you know our where I mean are minerals from our own country so we really have to build that if you want to go to Eevee by 2030. great thank you Michelle's recognized for five minutes thank you um and I think you know one of the commitments we have on this committee is to find those areas where we can move forward together and um I think Mr Khanna really elucidated some of those areas those bipartisan areas with our industrial base I think we also have some level of bipartisan consensus on winning the competition with the Chinese Communist party for those key Advanced Technologies of the future encountering the ccp's malign influence operations and the legal Trade Practices um so over the past two years this Administration in Congress have enacted historic pieces of legislation the chips in science and inflation reduction act which have really led to reassuring of American manufacturing and work to de-risk our critical Supply chains with China so we've seen the U.S manufacturing sector gain 385 000 jobs in 2021 396 000 jobs in 2022 largest annual manufacturing gains since 94. and we've seen private sector investment in reassuring American manufacturing I think robust export controls on the Chinese semiconductor industry and working in concert with our key allies including Japan and the Netherlands has been very powerful and they're already these policies are already bearing fruit but we still need to do more to counter China's threat to the Democratic World um I was really glad to see the administration put the Commerce department at the same table as defense and state to support this I had a provision included in this year's ndaa that will have the dod further assess where Commerce can be brought into our Global efforts from the secretary all the way down to attache's abroad because we really do have to strengthen and expand our investments um and and really align all of our forces as a whole of government expanding investment into r d and Innovation is really I think one of the key goals here but I also am very concerned as we move forward to do all of this along the lines of what rep steel was talking about we really have problems with our Rare Earth minerals so last year as the Biden Administration enacted robust export controls on the advanced chips critical to China's domestic semiconductor Nai Industries and bringing Japan and Netherlands on board as we discussed in response we saw the CCP announce earlier this month it would impose its own export controls on critical minerals such as gallium and Germania germanium so how are these bands impacting our economy and how is the administration preparing for potentially larger imposition of sanctions especially in these Rare Earth minerals Miss kendler do you want to start sure thank you very much congresswoman I share your concern about our [Music] need for for additional protections to through technology to propose to support National Security these actions such as the the germanium and gallium controls are not new for the for the PRC for for years especially in the semiconductor industry they've targeted our Technologies thinking particularly about the fujian jinhua theft of intellectual property and and criminal case associated with that we've had Decades of CCP directed uh action predatory action really the the gallium and germanium controls they they they're just in huge contrast to what we do they were adopted with ostensibly a national security rationale but there's been no clarification of what that National Security is in huge contrast to what we did with the advanced Computing Rule Last fall where we were very clear about the military uh application of the technology that we were controlling so um we're working uh very closely with allies and partners on these issues and I think it's it's difficult to predict retaliatory action given the the arbitrary Nation nature of China's controls but we are deeply focused on this well I appreciate that I I would just push back a little bit I'm not sure it's that difficult to predict what we're going to see in the future as we continue to try to shape the environment I think we are going to see um more and more uh instances of China putting our supply chains at risk which is why I do think some area where possibly we could get to bipartisan support is in investing in r d for how we can cleanly mine I do think at this point we need to understand how we can mine here and in countries that we have good relationships with again I'm happy about the memorandum of understanding with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of condo Congo I do think we have to move more into this area and I think we have to look here at home as well so thank you and I yield back thank you Miss hinson's recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chair in the Biden administration's recent attempts to expand our dialogue and cooperation with the CCP I think one of the things that I've noticed is there appears to be a lack of accountability we've had some very high profile incidents recently our ranking member highlighted a few of those but I think we can all agree the status quo is too dangerous to leave in place and the pla has been more proactive reactive than ever they've been blatantly and provocatively violating our airspace they've challenged Us in the South China Sea harassing the U.S and Allied vessels as well so from a diplomatic standpoint it really seems like we are sending our representatives there to court China despite these recent provocations without leaving with accountability having a clear line of communication is important I think we can all agree that we need to be talking to each other but it really feels one-sided in the CCP doesn't seem to be interested in really reducing any of these tensions so I think really accountability is what we are looking for we are looking for strength and a posture that matches that so my first question is for Mr crittenbrink would you be able to comment on kind of two elements at play here did the administration have to make any concessions to get into the room with our diplomatic Ventures recently with PRC officials and when clearly the Chinese are not willing to change tactics why would we continue that strategy if they're not going to meet us at the table congresswoman I can absolutely assure you we made no concessions to get meetings that is not how we operate we went into these meetings with a sense of confidence and strength we raise these issues very directly many of those conversations were tense we were quite clear about what we are going to continue to do so I think that kind of communication is important ma'am but I would also say what's also important we have to continue to fly sell and operate anywhere International labs and we will continue did the secretary ask the Chinese authorities about these these provocations in the South China Sea did they ask about this by balloon did they try to hold them accountable for these blatant provocations to the United States he made absolutely clear how unacceptable these actions are again on the balloon we we protested the action demanded it never happened again then we shot it down we also publicized the global nature of the Chinese spy balloon program and in terms of these provocative actions perhaps Dr Ratner wants to respond to them as well but the secretary was absent Crystal Clear how unacceptable they are how dangerous they are he also indicated again we will continue to operate everywhere did he communicate that there will be repercussions if these kinds of actions continue to happen he communicated that what China is doing is dangerous and irresponsible and it will not change our operations this is more than just speak softly and carry a big stick we need to speak loudly and carry a big stick and I think that's what's missing from these conversations so I would encourage you to carry that message to the secretaries that we have to we can be diplomatic and we can have these conversations but peace through strength means that these bullies need to respect that strength my next question is for Mrs Miss kendler one concern I continue to hear about from my constituents and businesses is these the aggressive and continued attacks on our IP um and theft there we know it's been happening it's been happening for decades and we've really let offenders in China kind of take advantage of our lack of deterrence and consequences for that theft and when they've gone after our tech industry we've seen it from startups all the way up to our larger scale businesses uh I think it's a top of Mind concern across across industry and across government and I know that your work at bis obviously has kind of backed this up as well and the mission is that U.S security cannot be achieved without the active cooperation in the private sector which can today controls a greater share of critical U.S resources than the past and so I think it's imperative that we do not continue to fail our our tech industry and our private sector here but um I want to talk about Huawei because when we know companies like Huawei who have dozens of subsidiaries and Affiliates here in the United States many of them are operating here I think we need to be very clear-eyed about their intention so why are we not reciprocating their targeted IP theft with targeted repercussions and I would ask you to elaborate on what you see as the next PATH and what we can maybe do as a committee to to really take action there well I draw it in particular uh on my experience at the justice department here and the uh prosecutions that you see of Ip theft especially IP theft that's tart that's driven by state-sponsored activity sort of economic Espionage as opposed to just uh straight up IP theft corporate theft uh and I my experience certainly is that the justice department is very focused on that effort and I'd urge you to speak with them and law enforcement agencies about that when it comes to Tech transfers controlled by the Bureau of industry and security uh we have a vigorous and Export control enforcement approach uh when when controlled Technologies are illicitly acquired by Chinese actors who couldn't get them through lawful means we are very serious about that approach and and um my we I'd be happy to take questions from my export enforcement colleagues to address if you could follow up with our office with some of the the steps that you're taking in this space that would be much shaded and again any recommendations to the committee on steps we can take thank you Mr chair yield back Miss Stevens um Miss kendler are you aware of export control gaps around Open Source Hardware as it pertains to semiconductors has that hit your desk yet uh given the recent passage of the chips and science legislation when you say Open Source Hardware can can you help me out we're talking about CPUs and the design of chips and particularly and I know you're focused on export controls so this is maybe a little bit more on the importing side and and it's okay if this hasn't hit your desk yet but it has come up in conversation that open source development of chips and particularly what the what CCP uh Enterprise is are producing might propose a national security threat and if you haven't had a chance to review this yet we'd love for you to talk to some of the companies on the design side and bring this to the Secretary of Commerce as we move forward with our very exciting implementation of the the chips legislation which as the Commerce Secretary has shared will give the United States by the year 2030 the very competitive Advantage from Soup To Nuts of Designing producing and shipping chips so we have woken up to the United States great opportunity of being able to produce these complex semiconductors that we that we innovated here on the electric vehicle front coming from Michigan we are also aware that the CCP that that China became the largest exporter of vehicles just this this year surpassing um a Germany and as we're looking to produce and when this next phase of the race the great moonshot of the 21st century the proliferation of zero emission Vehicles partly because we're the world is moving right and where Global demand is can you speak uh Miss kenler can you speak to how the Biden Administration has been working across departments and agencies to ensure a speedy and safe rollout of electric vehicles thank you I uh certainly share your concerns about a safe rollout of electric vehicles that's not uh necessarily something that is run out of bis but I'd be happy to take that back uh and and get with your team to to work we know that we know that auto accidents are on the rise and certainly the here in the United States and certainly the the technology that we're developing we want to make sure uh stays uh competitive to our not only our original equipment manufacturers but also to our suppliers and we have so much admiration for the small But Mighty role that the bis plays and just while I still have your time um and I know you weren't there during the last shutdown but how would a government shutdown impact your your agency and your agency's ability to to do its its work if we did happen to go into a government shutdown sure I was not at bis for the for the last shutdown you're right but uh you know licensing applications will slow down licensing officers will become less effective less efficient we need to maintain our high National Security standards so uh all all of the work becomes more difficult while we still focus on on what's required to do our job properly does a CR impact you as well uh yes it would yes yeah and the same for you uh Mr Chris yes ma'am yeah and the same for you Dr absolutely yes yeah so we we obviously want to have responsible leadership and recognize that our side of Pennsylvania Avenue also play plays a role in continuing to bolster the United States competitive Advantage as we uh look to our manufacturing prowess our industrial policy capabilities our tackling of the trade deficit and we thank you so much for your time today and your great testimony with that Mr chair I yield back Mr Jimenez is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman Mr secretary Clinton when's the last time that the PRC asked for a high level meeting with a senior U.S government official well uh Congressman the engagements that we've had those have been reached by uh mutual agreement well I asked a pretty specific question when was the last time that the PRC specifically picked up the phone and asked for a high-level meeting with a high-level U.S official well I guess the most recent example that I could that at least Springs to mind immediately but it didn't come prepared obviously to answer formally but um the Chinese had indicated uh over the last month that they very much wanted to uh accept secretary blinken's uh uh offer for the Chinese State councilor and foreign minister to visit Washington D.C but that that was based on on a request from us it was based on an invitation but so we asked them to come over and then they said they would we indicated that we would be open to that and they indicated so that's not the question the question is when was the last time that the PRC initiated a request to meet with a high-level U.S official I would say that's the most recent they requested a meeting for the Chinese foreign after we invited them after we invited them well sure but I think would go without saying um they probably wouldn't ask if they didn't know we were ready for them we we issued an invitation it was up to them to tell us whether that acceptor come and they came or they they indicated they would like to secretary that's not you know I'm asking a different kind of question you're giving me a different kind of answer so to me you know the point I'm trying to make is that we continue to be asking for all these high-level meetings with uh high-level officials in China we continue to do that please meet us please you know can we go over there and all doesn't it seem to you like that maybe looked at around the world as a sign of weakness that we're the junior partner respectfully sir I completely disagree we think fair enough you disagree yeah that's fine we think it was responsible I only have two minutes and 40 seconds so I'm I'll accept your answer um secretary um Kender uh you said that you wanted to maintain uh trade um that would not undermine National Security I pose to you that just about every everything we do with the Chinese undermines National Security as long as we maintain a trade deficit because every dollar that we send to China is going to be used to undermine American interests do you disagree with that respectfully sir I do disagree with that okay there there is um in my view a great deal of room for commercial trade that does not harm National Security but if if in fact the trade I remember what I said about trade deficit all right so we're at a trade deficit as long as China continues to make money off the United States that money is going to be used to undermine the interests of the United States around the world do you disagree with that I I would agree that the Chinese government the CCP funds to support s industry in in a way that uh advances its interests yes okay and so in a sense as we continue this trade imbalance the money that we're sending over to the CCP is actually being used against us in a variety of different ways uh and so I actually you know I agree with my with my colleague from across the aisle you know um uh Congressman Khanna that we have we need to re-establish our national security industrial base what can the Commerce Department do to re-establish that base and a lot has been talked about chips frankly chips are useless unless there's in something okay a chip can't do anything unless it's in a car or it's in a boat or it's in a missile system uh it's in a tank but if we don't produce those things the chips are useless so what can we do to re-establish that National Security industrial base that we have lost over the years and I'll give you an example and I mean I may have gone no still got 20 seconds we won World War II because especially in the Pacific because for every one aircraft carrier that the the Japanese built we built six we don't have that capability anymore how can we restore that capability back to the United States department has a lot obviously you mentioned the the chips Focus but we are working across the country to build up our our industrial base the point that I'd make is that through international trade or in what I hear from our industry is that they are able to innovate and to make groundbreaking discoveries in support of our national security because of the international trade that they engage in the time is expired Mr okenklaus thank you chairman uh there's clear bipartisan consensus on this committee that we need to be in a position of strength relative to the Chinese Communist Party their uh Xi Jinping and his polyp Bureau recognize strength above all else but there's a a concerning false equivalence that I'm hearing between diplomacy and weakness and it's um it misunderstands the nature of when to engage with an adversary uh secretary blinken secretary Yellen are landing in Beijing in a position of strength and that is why it's time to talk Dr Ratner would you say that over the last two years because of our actions in arming Taiwan because of our agreement with August because of our freedom of navigation Maneuvers in the South China Sea because of force redesign 2030 led by the Marine Corps that we are militarily stronger in the indo-pacific than we were absolutely congressman and would you say that because President Biden has rallied NATO to support and defend Ukraine fighting on the front lines of the Free World against Vladimir Putin that we are stronger in the indo-pacific as well as in Europe yes I think our actions in Europe have strengthened deterrence in the indo-pacific and do you think Xi Jinping is watching what happens in Ukraine I think he's watching very closely and what would happen if under a different Administration we were to cut and run from Ukraine Congressman I don't want to speculate but just to reiterate the point I do think our support for Ukraine and our ability to Rally the International Community has strengthened deterrence in the indo-pacific and Mr krittenberg do you think that we are stronger relative to where we were two years ago in terms of our multilateral and bilateral alliances in the indo-pacific because of iPath because of our engagement with Singapore and the Philippines and Guam absolutely without a doubt and how important is the Japanese Korean reproachment that we have seen over the last two years exceptionally important I would argue that our individual alliances with Japan and Korea are stronger than they've ever been before the fact that they have achieved this extraordinary approximal rapprochman has led to an unprecedented strengthening of our trilateral relationship as well which makes this all safer and I would note also that over the last two years with real wages Rising with more than 13 million jobs created with investments in infrastructure and Industry our economy is in relatively stronger shape relative to China just facing High youth unemployment and a huge debt crisis right now the time to talk is when we have significant strength and thanks to President Biden leadership we we do I'm also hearing a real mischaracterization of trade as Zero Sum it's a common Trope that somehow trade and the trade deficit implies weakness I mean I I have a trade deficit with my grocery store that doesn't mean that I'm weaker relative to Star Market Miss kendler does trade between the United States and large markets does that lower cost for American consumers by driving down the cost of imports yes it does and would revoking trade with the large market like China would that functionally be a sales tax that would disproportionately impact low-income Americans it could be characterized OAS does access to the Chinese market allow U.S industry to have standard setting other soft power prerogatives it does we're very engaged on standards activity can it help prevent Chinese dominance of large internal markets in a way that would give them that standard setting in soft power we are very focused on that issue does it give America Incorporated scale economies especially for high fixed costs low marginal cost Industries like biopharmaceuticals or semiconductors or telecoms that we can invest more in r d here yes that's the Innovation point that I was making earlier yes that's good to hear now despite these benefits do we have to be rigorous and disciplined in ensuring that we don't transfer dual use Technologies to the Chinese absolutely we're critically focused on protecting our national security and dual use Tech transfers and just for the record you do care about doing that deflacer uh it's all well and good to try to impair the transfer of dual use Technologies but that just buys us time ultimately we're going to have to out compete and out innovate the Chinese economy I was very heartened to see that in in the Republicans China task force report from last Congress it recommended a doubling of basic r d funding Bravo I agree I have been disheartened to see though in these Appropriations bills coming from the 20 the 118th Congress that the gop-led Appropriations Committee is cutting funding for science Dr Ratner is under investing in basic research ultimately going to impair technology and its applications to military might Congressman we certainly support uh strong research dollars in the in the Department's budget request has the largest request for research and development ever yeah if we cut science we will not win I yield back Mr mullinar thank you Mr chairman and thank all of you today uh Dr Ratner I'd like to start with you uh as someone serving in the highest levels of the defense department you are well aware of the military civil Fusion the CCP uses to blur the lines between business and the military rendering effectively uh you know no difference between the military and business in China do you think it makes sense for states to allow companies that pledge allegiance to the CCP to build facilities in the United States Congressman I think what is important here is that our economic exchange our technology technological exchange from the perspective of the Department of Defense does not support or Advance the capabilities of the pla okay the Michigan National Guard has hosted military representatives from Taiwan for training at Camp Grayling in my home state would you agree that any location where we are training taiwan's military should be considered a sensitive site Congressman I prefer to discuss topics of uh military engagement with Taiwan in a classified setting I understand if we were talking you know strategy or something but I mean this is uh in the public domain that we are training Taiwanese uh Camp Grayling and I'm just asking if you would consider that a sensitive site uh by sensitive site as a technical matter I'm not familiar with that term well something that you would want to prevent the CCP from learning more about Congressman as I said I think these matters are best discussed in a in a classified setting I don't think it advantages us to expose our military cooperation and support of Taiwan okay so I'm going to take that to say yes that you do believe that would be a sensitive site um knowing that the CCP will leverage every asset it can how many miles would you be how many miles away would you be comfortable with a CCP Affiliated company building a factory near a sensitive site would it be 10 miles 20 miles 200 miles uh Congressman I know that the department looks very carefully at the security physical security and information security of its facilities I don't have a direct uh numerical value for you but of course that's something we should take seriously okay uh I I say this because there was a situation in North Dakotas I'm sure you're very well aware where cepheus you know declined to be involved and you know the military had to step in and say no this is not acceptable are you familiar with that situation I am Congressman okay um well just in general do you think it makes sense for Michigan to welcome taiwan's military for training in our state and then turn around and invite CCP Affiliated companies to build manufacture manufacturing facilities in our state Congress and I fully understand the the point you're making I agree with it in principle and I think it's important that as it relates to our unilateral military activities our activities with all of our allies and partners that we should be careful uh because the PRC is going through several means physical Espionage cyber attacks to try to undermine and intervene in those relationships in the United States and around the world and that's something we ought to be vigilant against thank you and I will take you up on the idea of getting together and talking about this uh in a different setting um are you concerned about the delay in delivering weapons to Taiwan Congressman I think this there is a misunderstanding uh as it relates to U.S support for Taiwan in terms of our foreign military sales what we are facing is not a backlog as is sometimes described but rather uh concerns and slowdowns within all of our industrial base that is affecting our military production and our defense industrial base systematically not individually as it relates to Taiwan and we're doing everything we can to fulfill our commitments under the Taiwan relations act as quickly as we can through foreign military sales but also through other authorities including presidential Dorado and authority and potentially foreign military financing and I would just encourage members of this committee and the U.S Congress as secretary Austin has said to put appropriation to put Appropriations against the authorities that Congress itself has granted the department and that would go a long way in Expediting capability for Taiwan far faster far sooner and with more significant value you then what adjustments to the pace of our foreign military sales okay thank you and just with a few seconds left secretary Candler uh would you consider the United States to be the leader in Battery Technology for automotive applications I'm going to have to take that for the record I think I am not yes or no real quick is your time I'm I'm sorry I think so time has expired Mr Torres thank you um you know I had prepared questions but I actually might want to follow up on the colloqui that under secretary Clinton Brink had with the chairman the chairman asked you exactly how are the actions of the administration unprecedented and I might want to take a crack at answering that question it seems to me that the unprecedented nature of the administration's actions should be seen not only quantitatively but also qualitatively it should be seen holistically and when you consider the historic export controls on Advanced semiconductors which are the most critical of critical Technologies which will have implications far beyond semiconductors implications for AI and Quantum Computing and just about every form of emerging technology when you consider the historic security alliance between the United States and Australia in which we're equipping Australia with nuclear submarines when you consider the expansion of military bases in the Philippines and the reproach ma between Japan and South Korea and the historic re-militarization of Japan a development not seen since World War II Japan's defense budget has gone from one percent to two percent it seems to me the sum total of all of those actions especially in the backyard of China would seem to exceed anything that any Administration has previously done to deter China and China does not perceive these actions as weakness it perceives these actions as containment so is that a fair description of the unprecedented approach that the Administration has taken Congressman I agree with you 100 percent and I also want to examine the notion that diplomacy is practiced by the Biden Administration is a form of weakness it seems to me there ought to be a communicative relationship between the two leading superpowers in the world even during the peak of the Cold War the Cuban Missile Crisis there was a Channel of Crisis communication between the United States and the Soviet Union you know my concern is that a lack of communication could mean that we're one incident away one miscalculation away from a catastrophic outbreak of War so is that a fair assessment of the need for diplomacy between the two leading superpowers in the world absolutely and we believe that we're strong we're confident we're also responsible and that's why we're pursuing those communication channels and I want to examine the notion that the delay in the controls the investment controls is also somehow a function of weakness um you know it it seems to me that you know getting these controls right is not an exact science I mean we have to figure out how do we limit China's competitiveness without undermining our own competitiveness right we want to impose controls on China but not provoke a response that's so retaliatory that it does us more harm than good so that to me is not about weakness that's about figuring out the right Balancing Act is that a fair description of what's happening within the administration what I would say congressman is we we believe we we have to be strong we have to be robust we also have to be very smart and very strategic and to make sure that we understand uh precisely the impact of our actions and make sure that they land with maximum effect you know I feel like we often use buzzwords to describe our approach to China strategic decoupling de-risking and I wonder have we gone beyond the buzzwords do we have an actual plan for de-risking the relationship with China do we have an actual timeline for de-risking because we are dangerously dependent on China for critical minerals Rare Earth elements Clean Energy Technologies active pharmaceutical ingredients do we have plans for and timelines for de-risking in each of these areas maybe I'll take an initial stab that Congressman I I can't say that I have a specific timeline by which we will reach X goal but absolutely de-risking is our strategy and and to the previous comment there are uh obviously challenges but shouldn't we have uh it seems to be we need actual plans that make de-risking a reality and we need timelines by which we hold ourselves accountable absolutely pursuing the risking we've we've argued here there are benefits to trade there are more than 700 000 American jobs that depend on exports to China what we can't continue though is um uh vulnerabilities in our supply chains uh that make us and our partners uh vulnerable to either disruption or for our partners coercion and we're very aggressive and I noticed there's been a shift in language from strategic decoupling to de-risking is there a difference between the two what's the difference between the two well the argument is somehow decoupling or ceasing not alter a strategic decoupling and de-risking uh that's a nice sleight of hand but no all I can say is uh our our policies to pursue de-risking which is again is there a difference between the two yes or no I I'm I'll have to take that back and come back to you Congress right I'd like a response on that too that's a great question Mr Whitman thank you Mr chairman I'd like to thank our Witnesses for joining us Mr Ratner the body Administration talks about the pursuit of guard rails in the US PRC relationship and as I know you're aware uh in this last year represented historic high in pla incursions in Taiwanese air defense identification Zone we also know too that the PLL Navy is engaged in the largest naval peacetime buildup in the history of the world we also know too that despite years of trying the pla has so far refused to establish a crisis Communication channel with the United States military can you tell me within that realm how then this policy of guard rails has resulted in fewer incursions in the air defense identification Zone as in any way shape or form influenced the massive military buildup including ships for the PLL Navy can you tell me how it's encouraged in any way shape or form the Chinese to open a crisis Communication channel so we don't have this this miscalculation that you all talk about there's nothing that's happened that avoids that miscalculation can you tell me how the guard rails are functioning uh how they're going to get us to a place where all these things are de-escalating to a point where we can feel like we're making some progress Congressman the the principal response of the Department of Defense to the trends you're describing is to reinforce our own combat credible deterrence in terms of our own capability and alongside our allies and partners so that's how we're responding uh to China's military modernization the notion of guard rails and the notion of military to military Communications is intended to do a few things one to during periods of Crisis establish those kinds of communications two to be able to inject strategic messages when necessary but they are not uh these the singular or Primary Response to pla military modernization seems like to me though there's a contradictory statements though coming out where you say that the effort is to deter we want to deter the Chinese from from these sorts of actions yet we see that there's no deterrence there we see them continuing massive buildups we see increase in in very aggressive behavior in those areas we talk about wanting to avoid miscalculation yet we do nothing to really force the issue on crisis Communications and and then on the on the other side we say that well we're we're going to go out there and and do this constructive engagement that results in nothing other than our military having to continue massive amounts of build up ourselves uh and and that too is we're told as a policy that's going to deter the Chinese can you can you reconcile how you look at both of those and say that none of this is having an effect on the pla Congressman when we talk about uh deterrence we're talking about combat credible deterrence and our our Central goal is to prevent the PRC from initiating aggression against the United States and our allies and partners and being prepared to Prevail if they miscalculate and make that decision the actions you're describing are acts of coercion Gray Zone activity is described we do focus on that in so far as we are working to conduct our own operations to ensure we retain the ability to operate consistent with international law and we are enabling our allies and partners including Taiwan to be more resilient and be able to respond to that kind of behavior but in that realm we don't even look at it it's great to have mill-to-mill build up and talk about what are we going to do in that deterrent realm but there hasn't even been an assertion of a conversation about where China's going by by 2030 they'll have 1500 nuclear weapons 1500 and somehow we think that you know our our strategic deterrence in the conventional realm is the only place that we need to be and that we're not even having conversations about how somehow we limit the military buildup not just unconventional but on the nuclear side so tell me what what's the policy for us besides the deterrence from us building up the military to say somehow we want to get to a point where each side stops building up that there has to be a point where you say maybe we want to have a conversation about where this where the stopping point is you know even with Russia we had that Congressman I think what you're describing is that there are uh and that is one of the reasons why we are interested in talking with the pla particularly as it relates to new domains like space and cyber to understand the escalatory potential there and so we can both shape our uh actions and policies accordingly as it relates to nuclear weapons I will just say the president's budget seeks more than 37 billion dollars for modernization of the nuclear Triad we are taking China's nuclear modernization uh seriously Thomas expired Miss caster well thank you to the witnesses for your testimony and your service to America the costs and harms of the climate crisis have never been more apparent to uh Americans and people all across the globe secretary Ratner yesterday The Joint economic committee highlighted climate risk to the U.S military U.S military bases and other DOD assets they say it's a fundamental threat to our national security this followed a 2018 DOD assessment of climate threats to our strategic infrastructure a 2019 DOD report as well on climate impacts they noted repeated Flooding at Naval Base Guam as already limiting operations and activities for the Navy Expeditionary forces command Pacific and the Island's Anderson Air Force Base submarine squadrons telecommunications and a number of other specific task supporting Mission execution considering the U.S has more than 200 bases in the Indo paycom area of operation and there have been 411 natural disasters a typhoon which left most of Guam without power Anderson Air Force Base Marine Corps Camp Blas with more than two feet of rain what how did these climate fuel disasters affect our uh indo-pacific military strategy what's what is DoD doing to ensure installation resilience and Readiness and Personnel safety in that region congresswoman I can provide you with a specific answer to that question following the hearing I will say this is clearly a major issue for the Department you have cited many of the reasons why that is it affects our facilities it potentially affects our ability to operate in the event of severe weather and it has destabilizing effects potentially on the in the region including for some of our closest allies and partners so this is an important issue for the Department do the budget cuts of to climate resilience and programs at DOD hurt our posture congresswoman again I'll get you the specifics following the hearing but uh absolutely it's important that we continue to invest in in uh resilience and we've seen some of the effects of this severe weather uh recently as you described uh secretary uh The Binding Administration focus on strengthening relationships with allies and partners to counter the Chinese Communist party has been very important this includes climate resilience and clean energy can you talk about the importance of usaid the development Finance Corporation and the southeast Asia smart power program clean Edge Asia to our national security and our interests in countering China yes congresswoman thank you very much I would argue that I would fully agree strengthening our relationships with allies and partners is Central to our entire strategy our security and prosperity in the region and our ability to outcompete China certainly for friends in Southeast Asia and perhaps even more so in the Pacific Islands climate resilience is an existential national security question so our work together in building resilience on these transnational challenges is incredibly important the work that usaid DFC and others do in the energy realm in promoting clean energy climate adaptation and resilience is really Central to what we're trying to achieve when you say Central you mean it's critical to the entire de-risking strategy what you just talked about with Congressman Torres I would say yes ma'am and and certainly in Southeast Asia I would argue it's even more urgent among our Pacific island Partners we talk about meeting them where they live our strategy is designed to cooperate with them on the issues that are most urgent for them I think climate would probably be number one for almost all of them thank you very much are y'all back Mr Barr thank you with all respect I think um one of the reasons why our adversary might view us as weak is that chasing the taunt and focusing on the weather is not really negotiating from a position of strength assistant secretary crittenbrink on the anniversary of Tiananmen June 4th you boarded a plane to travel to Beijing to engage in diplomatic talks just miles from where the massacre occurred that very same day the department of state issued what is arguably the weakest statement ever by the U.S government honoring the memory of Tiananmen can you explain why the department would choose those days above all to engage with the CCP Congressman I want to be absolutely clear I agreed to travel to Beijing for meetings with my counterpart on June 5. the only way I could get to Beijing by that date was to leave here on June 2nd which caused me to arrive in Beijing on June 4 where I held internal meetings in the embassy in the U.S embassy to prepare with my counterparts for my meetings on June 5. simultaneous to that the Secretary of State other State Department officials issued a very tough statement as we always do annually on the Tiananmen massacre of innocent civilians the 34th anniversary of that why was it why was it weaker than than previous statements from the state department years before Congress Administration I can't I can't agree with that do you agree that it was a watered down statement I I absolutely do not uh why was it different than previous years I I can't respond to and I don't have any from you exactly how it was different different but what I can it was do you agree it was a different different kind of statement I I don't agree with that sir I agree that on the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre the secretary spoke out as he always and more perhaps more importantly while I was in Beijing and even more importantly while secretary blinker was in Beijing we raised these very issues and we raised them forcefully with the Chinese the Chinese have there's there's no uh ambiguity uh in the Chinese mind about our views on the team so there's a there's commentary from uh foreign policy magazine that says um approach an adversary from a position of palpable neediness make upfront concessions to gain Good Will and settle for uncertain political deliverable that lies in the future this characterizes the Biden policy on China assistant secretary Clinton Brink following up my questioning from earlier this week in the Foreign Affairs committee have you or anyone at the state department encouraged another agency to delay implementation of a sanction or export control yes or no Congressman I cannot accept the characterization of our policy we approach our policy which I was not my characterization that was commentary from foreign have you or anyone at the state department encouraged another agency to delay implementation of a sanction or export control Congressman I'm not going to get into the deliberations of of pre-decision that is a very important question that that speaks to the policy of this Administration on China yes have you or anyone at the state department encouraged another agency to delay implementation of a sanction or export control related to China what we have done congressman is carried out an unprecedented number of actions I don't think you're answering the question and that is a question that this Administration needs to answer for the American people because we've seen a spy balloon Traverse our sensitive military sites we have seen a spy station set up 90 miles from the continental United States we have seen a a policy of chasting diplomacy without any strength we see no deterrence on Taiwan the American people need security we need strength we do not need weakness did you or others at State including Wendy Sherman or Rick Waters ever Advocate or consult with NSC or other agencies to delay an action like entity listing Congressman again I'm not going to address pre-deliberative matters under consideration what I will underscore what has this Administration done we have carried out an unprecedented number of strong actions both in terms of sanctions entity listings visa restrictions strengthening of our relationships with allies and partners strengthening our military deterrent capability and those of our allies and partners we are proud let the record show the gentleman was asking about past deliberations um and the witness has refused to answer uh Mr lahood is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman um as you may know this committee was established back in January with broad bipartisan support to create the select committee on China and I would argue there's no more important issue or strategic priority for the Congress or the administration then our approach to China and what is very frustrating about today is why we don't have secretary blinken secretary Austin and secretary raimondo we have tried to work over the last two months to get them here and with such a priority and bipartisan support it's perplexing and frustrating that they're not here today and with all due respect to you and your testimony here today they should be here and they're not and and by the way as you look at the other priorities that the Bible Administration ahead there was no problem whether it was the chips act or the IRA or other priorities to have them here and testify and go through it so it borders on unacceptable that they're not here I want to focus um particularly on China's Rising influence in many of the world's multinational institutions and organizations particularly the United Nations the World Trade Organization the World Bank and the World Health Organization and I want to share a few statements and examples that highlight this concern the first is an op-ed written by DJ norquist former U.S executive director of the World Bank from 2019 to 2021. in an article titled quote China is using the World Bank as its piggy bank unquote in that article Miss norquist cites a recent GAO study showing that Chinese state-owned Enterprises soes secured nearly 30 percent of world Bank funds used for procurement for economic development projects compared to less than one percent procurement for U.S firms in the op-ed Miss norquist writes quote why would China be willing to under bid and lose money on projects question mark it is playing a long game building capacity and relationships through these contracts to further enmesh itself in the economies of developing countries it is using the World Bank to create new client states contemplating the work of its belt and Road initiative to sink tentacles into countries with no questions asked loans Mr chairman uh I'd ask unanimous consent to submit this article from The Wall Street Journal as well as the GAO study she cites into the record without objection sword thank you additionally in 2021 secretary blinken raised serious concerns over China's influence in the World Health Organization report on covid-19 Origins stating quote we've got real concerns about the method methodology and process that went into that report including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped write it unquote and finally we have seen this continue to become a real problem at the United Nations and elsewhere China uses Financial contributions and increased employment of Chinese Nationals within these organizations to strong-arm developing countries and Advance CCP priorities the question is really open to all of you but I'll start with Mr crittenbrink let me let me ask you can you give a specific um initiatives and and what the Biden Administration is doing about China's Rising influence in these Global organizations and maybe if you could respond to the what the the comments I made regarding the World Bank and whether there are currently diplomatic uh initiatives or priorities that the administration is engaged in thank you Congressman I would say first of all on International organizations the best way to respond to that challenge is to make sure that we're very active in running our own candidates and in supporting like-minded candidates who share our values for how um and is the administration doing that we absolutely are and give me some examples what are you doing specifically uh I can bring back to you a couple of examples but certainly I believe is the head of the international organization of migration we've run a successful campaign for the US candidate for the U.S candidate but we've run a number of these campaigns over the last besides that example can you cite others specifically here today on what you're doing um I will come I'll be happy to come back to you on that sir is an absolute priority and and we recognize the challenge that you outlined that's why we've approached it so aggressively again in running our own candidates and supporting other like-minded candidates can anybody else cite any examples yes Congressman Ian Saunders from the Commerce Department was recently uh he's recently made the new head of the world Customs organization thank you uh thank you uh with that uh questioning time has ended I'm shocked that we made it with votes having been called I want to thank our Witnesses for being here I do want to foot stomp what Mr lahood said uh that we appreciate your presence and your testimony and the exchange of ideas um tense though it may be at times we we fully expect that your your bosses will will join the committee before the year's end we hope you bring that message back to them um and I want to remind members that questions for the record are due one week from today on July 27th without objection the Committee hearing is adjourned

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Published: Thu Jul 20 2023