US Senate poised to vote on legislation countering China on multiple fronts

The US Innovation and Competition Act would strengthen ties with Taiwan, steer billions to tech research and sanction more Chinese officials for Xinjiang

The bill, which is expected to come up for a vote on Tuesday, is regarded by many observers as likely to pass

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The US Senate’s new China legislation includes one area of great interest to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer: the allocation of up to US$80 billion over five years for basic and advanced tech research. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:03am, 5 Jun 2021Updated: 2:14am, 5 Jun 2021

After months of procedural and political hurdles, the US Senate appears set to finally vote next week on sweeping, bipartisan legislation intended to counter a rising and more assertive China.

The US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 includes billions of dollars for semiconductor manufacturing; a ban on American officials attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns; a declaration that China’s policies in the Xinjiang region amount to genocide; and a range of provisions meant to strengthen US military alliances in the Pacific.

The bill, which has turned into something of an omnibus for senators hoping to pass their varied priorities related to China, ballooned to more than 2,000 pages in recent weeks as it approached the final stages of the Senate’s complex and winding bill-making process.

It was poised for a vote last week but was delayed when a handful of Republicans temporarily stopped it, arguing that they needed more time to review all its sections.

US Senator James Risch, Republican of Idaho, has co-sponsored legislation that would, among other things, create a new State Department position to monitor and counter Chinese influence in international organizations. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Current and former Senate aides closely tracking the legislation say it is expected to come to a vote on Tuesday. They say it is expected to pass the chamber, but the ultimate outcome is still unknown while behind-the-scenes negotiations continue over what the final bill will look like.

If it does pass, it will be perhaps the most formal recognition yet that Washington’s deep distrust of Beijing was not merely a feature of the Trump administration – as some Chinese officials seemed to suggest in the early days of Joe Biden’s presidency – but reflects a consensus spanning the congressional political spectrum that China’s actions under Xi Jinping threaten global stability, and that the US must urgently work to out-compete China or lose its status as the world’s most powerful nation.