Congress must act to prevent Beijing from forcing the United States to rely on Chinese companies

The United States is determined to thwart Beijing’s efforts to secure victory worldwide in three key areas: military, intelligence and diplomacy.

Yet the greatest threat to U.S. national security comes from Beijing’s success in undermining the resilience and self-reliance of our industrial base.

China seeks victory in this area fourth path precisely because the US government is not structured to respond to a security threat disguised as banal commercial competition.

Indeed, President Biden this week imposed tariffs on Chinese products like electric vehicles and solar panels, not for national security reasons but because of what he called “unfair” competition. .

As a leader of global telecommunications companies, I saw how Beijing worked to ensure the rise and ultimate dominance of Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers, particularly ZTE and Huawei.

When I began writing “Wireless Wars,” a book originally intended to address competition in telecommunications, I assumed that Beijing was supporting its business champions so that they could succeed economically.

But I soon saw how Huawei was deploying its cellular equipment around US nuclear missile bases and how ZTE was selling equipment to North Korea, despite the risk of violating US sanctions. ZTE had to pay a billion dollar fine for a $32 million sale to Pyongyang.

It became clear that the goal of these companies was not to make profits but to advance the strategic goals of the Chinese Communist Party.

By intervening in the telecommunications sector, Beijing has destroyed Nortel, Motorola, Lucent and other Western companies that were once world leaders in communications technology.

The CCP has invested over $75 billion in the success of these companies, making it unlikely that they will ever be profitable.

But profit was never the goal. For less than the cost of an aircraft carrier, China crushed Lucent’s business, turning Bell Labs, which developed American sonar, radar and anti-missile technology, into a mere R&D arm for a Finnish telecommunications company.

The real goal was to allow CCP-controlled companies to install the 5G networks and other advanced equipment that allowed American farms, factories and ports to operate efficiently – or not to do so at Beijing’s choosing. .

While the Huawei ban blocked the company’s rollout in America, the destruction of our industry forced us to rely on European, Korean and Japanese suppliers to equip our networks.

China has similar ambitions in other vital markets. Its companies now hold a dominant share in the production of electric car batteries (77%) and solar panels (78%).

No less than 90% of generic antibiotic inputs come from China.

We couldn’t start making our own if we wanted to.

The Commerce Department is supposed to lead the government’s response to Beijing’s shenanigans, but it is not the appropriate agency for the task.

Its stated goal is to “enhance America’s economic competitiveness” and serve as a “voice of business.”

Yet confronting a security threat disguised as trade competition requires taking actions that impose significant costs on both the U.S. economy and individual businesses. How can Commerce tell companies to stop buying from the cheapest suppliers or selling to the largest market – in the name of national security?

Yes, Commerce has the authority it does this through tools such as its “Entity List,” which prohibits foreign companies from selling or buying in the U.S. market.

The department also has a Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) whose “major concern is the security of the United States.”

But he tempers this with the duty “not to impose unreasonable restrictions”.

Commerce’s conflicting mandates prevent it from effectively focusing on its security mission.

The only viable solution is the creation of a new entity to fight against China’s trade offensive.

This means Congress will have to intervene.

When TikTok emerged as one of the most effective cogs in the CCP’s propaganda machine, the House and Senate moved quickly and in a bipartisan manner to pass a bill requiring TikTok to sell its U.S. operations. United or to close its doors.

Now is the time for Congress to create, fund, and empower a new entity to address the Chinese threat.

To form the core of this new body, the government could recruit staff from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including those from the Treasury and the Departments of Defense, State, and Commerce, among others.

The Commerce BIS could strengthen the CFIUS team with the mission of putting an end to Chinese subversion which takes the form of commercial competition.

Freed from pressures to advance corporate interests, this new entity could make the tough choices necessary to thwart China’s ambitions and protect America.

Yet the first step to fighting back is recognizing on which battlefield the war is being fought.

Jon Pelson is the author of “Wireless Wars, China’s Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We’re Fighting Back” and an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.