WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — In a rare prime-time hearing on Tuesday, a special House committee is expected to lay the groundwork for tackling China’s growing power — as well as their growing friendship with Russia.
The hearing comes just weeks after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the South Carolina coast, and it will seek to put China in the hot seat.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., opened the hearing by calling for a “sense of urgency.” Addressing the difficulty of finding common ground on China-focused legislation, he said the Chinese government has found friends on Wall Street and in lobbyists on Washington’s K Street, who are ready to oppose the committee’s efforts.
“Time is not on our side. Just because this Congress is divided, we cannot afford to waste the next two years lingering in legislative limbo or pandering for the press,” Gallagher said in prepared remarks.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the CCP is counting on lawmakers to be “fractious, divided, partisan and we have to do the opposite.”
“We have no choice but to rise to the challenge at this point. It’s that serious,” Krishnamoorthi said.
The witnesses for Tuesday’s hearing include two former advisers to Trump: Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser who resigned immediately after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and H.R. McMaster, who was national security adviser from February 2017 to April 2018.
“China’s communist leaders are masters at disguising their intentions,” Pottinger said.
During the hearing, protesters attempted to disrupt the speeches. One sign read “China is not our enemy.” Gallagher acknowledged the protester and said, “Your sign is upside down.”
According to advance testimony obtained by NewsNation, Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul is poised to paint China as a direct threat to American workers.
“For decades, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has telegraphed its intentions with five-year plans, the Made in China 2025 program, Military-Civil Fusion, and the Belt and Road Initiative. Its goals: dominate key industries, set global standards, seek opportunity from crisis, weaken competitors,” according to Paul.
Paul is also expected to criticize U.S. policies.
“While CCP policies have been destructive, our own policies made matters worse,” according to the testimony. “Bringing China into the world trade system in 2000 seemed like a slam dunk but instead became a spectacular failure of conventional wisdom and elite opinion. After writing a blank check to Beijing, we turned a blind eye to its cheating, time and time again accepting empty promises to reform, with no real consequences.”
While the panel was created long before the balloon was shot down, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the China Select Committee, said China’s latest actions show the threat isn’t a distant one.
“The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat to our generation, and we need to start pushing back and acting with a sense of urgency, and that work begins tonight,” Gallagher said
While the spy balloon gives a notable context for Americans, the hearing will primarily focus on the competition between the world’s two largest economies — and the threat committee members claim China poses to Americans.
So far, Gallagher appears to have Democratic buy-in and support. The vote to create the committee was bipartisan, 365-65. Opponents on the Democratic side largely voiced the concern that the committee could stir an even greater rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Gallagher said he is committed to ensuring the focus is on the Chinese Communist Party, not on the people of China.
“We want to lead with that sort of human rights-focused, values-focused agenda,” Gallagher said. “And that’s an area of unity, too, for a lot of Democrats and Republicans.”
Gallagher said the other challenges presented by China include its potential for an armed conflict with Taiwan, the need to make sure the U.S. isn’t unknowingly fueling Chinese propaganda, and the imperative to decrease U.S. dependence on China for everything from computer chips to medicine.
Another threat the committee wants to tackle: China’s growing friendship with Russia. U.S. intel is concerned China could provide Russia with weapons for its war against Ukraine.
“We have not seen that they’ve done that at this point, but again, it is something that we’ll continue to closely monitor,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
The committee is also open to calling in the CEOs of major American companies on working with China.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.