On March 8, 2024, the Hudson Institute held an event where U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-1) and Hudson’s Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs had a conversation about “how Congress can restore America’s advantage over the People’s Republic of China in the new cold war.” The event was titled “Taking On the China Challenge with Congressman Kevin Hern.” The event occurred shortly after Rep. Hern introduced the Counter Communist China Act and after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced a bill to require ByteDance to divest interests and influence from TikTok. Rep. Hern was also a co-sponsor of the TikTok bill.
During the event, Rep. Hern and Ms. Heinrichs primarily discussed their concerns for China and ongoing congressional actions to address these concerns—most notably through the TikTok bill and the Counter Communist China Act. Beginning the conversation with the TikTok bill, Rep. Hern first stated that the bill does not intend to “ban TikTok.” Instead, Rep. Hern argued that China “owns” ByteDance “directly…or indirectly” just as it does “pretty much…every company in China” and seeks to use TikTok as a medium to collect data on American citizens and companies. Concurring with Rep. Hern, Ms. Heinrichs added that she was also concerned that TikTok could be used as a platform to “misinform and galvanize support against U.S. interests.” Rep. Hern said that Congress seeks to “protect America and Americans from sometimes their own selves” by demanding ByteDance to “divest of its control from the CCP” in the case of TikTok, namely, own less than 20% of TikTok to ensure the U.S. Congress that ByteDance no longer has control of the company.
Moving on to the Counter Communist China Act and the relevant concerns it addresses, Rep. Hern first set the stage by warning that China is “moving very rapidly” to “destroy us economically and control us militarily.” On the issue of U.S. investment in China, for example, Rep. Hern argued that U.S. investments and other investments “in the Western world” have helped fund and support the growth of Chinese technologies, contributing to China’s economic and military strength. However, according to Rep. Hern, China then turned to “push out” U.S. suppliers from China’s technology supply chains. To address this issue, Ms. Heinrichs and Rep. Hern both agreed that one should not advocate for a “complete decoupling from China.” Instead, decision makers should look into “specific technologies” and stop “empower[ing]” China, “the country that is trying to supplant the United States.” Accordingly, the Counter Communist China Act provides a two prong solution: 1) protect supply chain security at home and 2) require transparency of U.S. investment outbound.
Next, Rep. Hern and Ms. Heinrichs discussed their concerns about China’s “lobbying” and “educational efforts” and about China’s “influence” on U.S. think tanks and retired members of the Congress. Rep. Hern specifically mentioned that following the House committee’s advancement of the TikTok bill, “people that should be and would be, in any other normal situation, strong Americans”—e.g. researchers at “some of our most conservative thinks tanks” and some industry stakeholders—nevertheless reached out to voice opposition to the bill “because they were getting pinged or maybe getting compensated.” Rep. Hern thus called for more transparency in lobbying efforts on China’s behalf. He further argued that any legislative proposal on foreign lobbying transparency could have solid progress if it is part of a bigger China-related bundle bill, but reiterated the importance to push back on some lobbyists and business stakeholders with regard to their position on China.
Rep. Hern and Ms. Heinrichs then moved on to China’s international presence and influence. According to Rep. Hern, China is using their economic power to “creat[e] the unrest in pretty much every continent” by “bankrolling” chaos and “backing” Russia, North Korea and Venezuela. The speakers highlighted two specific issues. First, Ms. Heinrichs argued that despite the Red Sea crisis, “Russian flagships” and “Chinese flagships” were able to “go through the Red Sea unscathed,” which, according to Rep. Hern, lower the costs of goods from China moving through the Red Sea route. Relatedly, Rep. Hern also warned that China is increasing its influence in the global shipping network by building ports in South Africa and South America.
Second, Ms. Heinrichs underlined that China is purchasing petroleum from Iran “in defiance of US sanctions.” Rep. Hern accordingly expressed concerns that the petroleum trade is denominated in Chinese Yuan and argued that the Chinese purchase further showcased China’s ties to Iran. The U.S. House passed H.R.3774 – Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act on November 3, 2023 to address, among others, China’s purchase of Iranian oil through sanctions. Rep. Hern was one of the 241 co-sponsor of the bill, although neither Rep. Hern nor Ms. Heinrichs explicitly mentioned the bill or similar congressional efforts on the matter.
Meanwhile, Ms. Heinrichs argued that just as “authoritarian countries are more clearly…[and] more brazenly collaborating to undermine the United States and our allies,” the collaboration among “like-minded, pro-democracy countries” have also increased. Rep. Hern similarly highlighted the importance of multilateral collaboration to counter China and observed that “Western allies” are “starting to wake up to…what China’s trying to deliver.”
Rep. Hern and Ms. Heinrichs also briefly discussed the connection between the United States’ border and immigration issue and China-related national security concerns, the underlying causes of the U.S. fentanyl crisis, and the Republican Study Committee’s position on further U.S. aid to Ukraine, among other subject matters.
