US government should improve Chinese expertise and language skills to help counter Beijing, panel hears
- Witnesses at US-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing discuss ways to offset Chinese influence campaigns
- Testimony also covers Beijing’s efforts in disinformation, propaganda and transnational repression of Chinese diaspora
The US needs to develop stronger Chinese expertise and language training as part of its ability to counter Beijing’s global influence, witnesses told a top US congressional advisory commission on Thursday.
Ten witnesses testified at the hearing before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which examines the national security implications of the US-China trade and economic relationship.
“Having experts who speak the Chinese language and who understand the foundations of the Chinese political system is essential to assessing its ultimate impact on democracies,” said Caitlin Dearing Scott of the International Republican Institute, a non-profit organisation whose board members are primarily drawn from the Republican Party.
“It’s been 50 years since someone in Carter’s administration complained about the quality of US government expertise [on China] … and we still haven’t done anything about it,” said Peter Mattis, of the Special Competitive Studies Project, a Virginia-based private foundation. .
