'China Week' invented to distract Americans and contain China

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The U.S. House is scheduled to vote on more than two dozen China-related bills on the floor this week.

In what many are calling "China Week," American lawmakers are to decide on legislations that would restrict American federal agencies from contracting with leading Chinese biotech firms, tightening scrutiny of China-made drones and port cranes, closing Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices on American soil and many other areas targeting China.

Apparently, this bucket of bills – under the guise of national security – is Washington's fresh attempt to strengthen economic, diplomatic and legislative tools to blunt China's economic competitiveness and cripple its political influence. "Congress must keep our focus on countering China with every tool at our disposal," House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a speech at the Hudson Institute in July.

Labeling China as a "threat" without providing any evidence is just plain lazy. Take the Biosecure Act, the first legislative move of "China Week," as an example. To gain an unfair advantage over China's biotech industrial chain, the Act targets five leading Chinese firms – BGI Group, MGI, Complete Genomics, Wuxi AppTec and Wuxi Biologics – without even disclosing the process used for determining this list.

Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts called for more evidence of the listed companies' "exploitation" of America's pharmaceutical industry. "In the United States of America, Congress does not just pick companies to punish at random with no clear criteria or due process," McGovern wrote in a letter arguing for clearer standards in selecting the companies. "If we are going to name companies, there ought to be a clear, transparent process," he said.

Kentucky representative Rand Paul went a step further calling the move to restrict Chinese economic activity a "mistake". "I think it is a mistake to let hysteria over China stop international trade," Paul was quoted by Bloomberg as saying, adding that "trade isolationism" could lead to war.

True, Washington has been hysterical about China's growth for some time now. From the TikTok ban to tariffs on China-made new energy vehicles and now with "China Week," the U.S. has leveraged every possible tool in an attempt to contain China’s growth.

Now, with the U.S. presidential election fast approaching, such anti-China hysteria has reached a new high. Indeed, taking a hardline approach on China appears to pay political dividends and keep the American public distracted from mounting domestic issues. "China Week" then – with its numerous pieces of hostile legislation – should be viewed as such an endeavor.

"The best way to get something done in Washington is to frame it in the China or national security framing," noted Rory Murphy, former vice president of government affairs at the U.S.-China Business Council. "There is no political consequence to being too tough on China," he added.

Facing mounting drug addiction, gun violence, illegal immigration, soaring inflation and many other domestic problems, the U.S. is in urgent need of national unity. In this context, blaming China for every problem that the country's leadership has no capability or will to solve, it turns out, is a convenient way to paper over bipartisan rifts and form a united front.

"From the campaign trail to the halls of Congress, there is nothing that brings Democrats and Republicans together these days like going after China," said Bllomberg's Steven T. Dennis.

Touting the so-called "China threat" at "China Week" has nothing to do with national security, but is rather an attempt to divert attention from domestic problems and blunt China's development. Indeed, it is much easier to conjure up an external boogeyman rather than deal with the real domestic issues of drug addiction, gun violence and soaring inflation.

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