China Blasts Annual Congressional Report As Filled With "Conspiracies, Pitfalls, Threats"

China Blasts Annual Congressional Report As Filled With "Conspiracies, Pitfalls, Threats" Tyler Durden Thu, 12/03/2020 - 19:20

Over the past years Beijing officials unleashing their wrath on the Congressionally mandated annual report on Chinese capabilities and ambitions on the world stage seems to have become an annual tradition.

Newsweek has introduced this year's 575-page US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report by saying:

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released on Tuesday its annual congressional report, which for the first time focused on China "surpassing" the U.S. in terms of economics as well as diplomacy, technology and diplomacy, rather than simply "catching up."

Via Xinhua

This led to recommendations of a "tougher" line on 'rising China', and of course Beijing is not amused.

"Some people in the United States cannot extricate themselves from the Cold War and zero-sum game thinking," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

"All that meet their eyes are conspiracies, pitfalls and threats. This will do no good for the United States itself, the China-U.S. relations and the world," she added as part of the invective.

"We hope that the relevant people in the United States will abandon the Cold War and the zero-sum game thinking and ideological prejudice, stop making unprovoked accusations against China, and stop doing or saying anything that harms China's interests and China-US relations," Hua added.

The Chinese government had planned the Galwan Valley incident in June, potentially including the possibility for fatalities, a US Congressional Commission has said
https://t.co/wfYVnTYYni

— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) December 2, 2020

There are plenty of other major allegations and details concerning China's behavior over the past year spelled out in the report, such as hostilities along the Indian border, sure to provoke the ire of Chinese officials.

* * *

Below are ten key recommendations on an approach to China adopted by Congress as laid out in the report:

Congress adopt the principle of reciprocity as foundational in all legislation bearing on U.S.-China relations. Issues to be considered in applying this principle should include but are not limited to the following:

• The ability of journalists and online media to operate without undue restriction;

• The ability of nongovernmental organizations to conduct meaningful engagement with civil society;

• Access to information, including but not limited to financial and research data;

• Access for social media and mobile apps from U.S. companies;

• Access for diplomatic personnel, including but not limited to diplomats’ freedom of travel and ability to meaningfully exchange views with the host country public; and

• Market access and regulatory parity, including but not limited to companies’ ability to participate in trade, investment, and financial market transactions, cross-border capital transfer, and protections of intellectual property.

2. Congress expand the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to monitor and take foreign government subsidies into account in premerger notification processes.

• The FTC shall develop a process to determine to what extent proposed transactions are facilitated by the support of foreign government subsidies.

• The definition of foreign government subsidies shall encompass direct subsidies, grants, loans, below-market loans, loan guarantees, tax concessions, governmental procurement policies, and other forms of government support.

• Companies operating in the United States that benefit from the financial support of a foreign government must provide the FTC with a detailed accounting of these subsidies when undergoing FTC premerger procedures.

• If the FTC finds foreign subsidies have facilitated the transaction, the FTC can either propose a modification to remedy the distortion or prohibit the transaction under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits mergers and acquisitions where the effect "may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly."

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China Blasts Annual Congressional Report As Filled With "Conspiracies, Pitfalls, Threats"