Before adjourned for Christmas, congressional leadership had set ambitious goals to counter the Chinese Communist Party. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) identified three policy priorities to address: trade loopholes that provided a highway for Uyghur slave labor-produced goods to America, U.S. cooperation with CCP-controlled biotechnology companies, and American investments in companies domiciled in the People鈥檚 Republic of China directly or indirectly serving the People鈥檚 Liberation Army.
Their priorities were sound. Chinese companies like Temu and Shein are slave-labor goods into the United States, circumventing U.S. law in the process. American companies were on PRC biotechnology companies harvesting the DNA of Americans for nefarious purposes. Wall Street had in PLA-linked entities for decades and essentially underwritten Beijing鈥檚 military buildup.
Congress entered Christmas having failed to legislate on these imperatives. Americans enter 2025 with Uyghur slave-labor products in their shopping carts and persistent exposure to CCP biological threats, all while underwriting Beijing鈥檚 war machine with their pension funds.
Congress鈥檚 inability to resolve these problems is a parable of America鈥檚 broader strategic failure. It is not a story of floundering or fear but of delay and decadence. The United States finds itself in a New Cold War with the CCP, yet Washington has thus far lacked the political will required to win this existential tussle. The failure lies not with Beijing鈥檚 craftiness but with America鈥檚 besetting strategic weaknesses.
According to well-placed sources, the effort to close the 鈥渄e minimis鈥� import loophole died in the Senate with Republican members who prioritized economic considerations above national security imperatives. House Democrats froze out the BIOSECURE Act from the National Defense Authorization Act and the continuing resolution due to claims of possible lost jobs in key congressional districts. Both parties shared blame for the failure to restrict U.S. investments in the PLA. Democrats kept it out of the NDAA, and Elon Musk鈥檚 advocacy killed the CR. This comedy of errors challenges the Washington conventional wisdom about China policy being a rare refuge from partisan politics.
To be sure, Republicans and Democrats have made great strides in insulating America from malign CCP influence. Look no further than the bipartisan passage of the in 2021 and the diverse coalition that the TikTok bill earlier this year. Even these successes, however, are encountering headwinds. The UFLPA requires massive scaling-up in order to be effective, and the TikTok bill hangs in and jeopardy.
America is struggling to muster the requisite political capital to wage and win a New Cold War with the CCP. This reality should disturb voters across the nation, and it should galvanize elected officials to put the country鈥檚 survival ahead of rank politics. Xi Jinping, after all, has made his intentions abundantly clear. He is the Chinese people for war. The PLA is Taiwan. Beijing is angling to the translating alliance and divide the U.S. and the European Union. The PRC is infiltrating the Western hemisphere to challenge America鈥檚 dominance at home. Xi is building a Marxist 鈥渃ommunity of common destiny for all mankind鈥� that will underpin the CCP鈥檚 quest for global domination.
The CCP isn鈥檛 hiding its gambit from the United States. Xi wants to displace America during his lifetime as the world鈥檚 leading superpower. Washington, however, seems stuck in a domestic rut of its own making.
What will it take to rouse this town and craft a 鈥渂ipartisan China policy鈥� worthy of the name?
One that doesn鈥檛 settle for low-hanging fruit at convenient political moments, but does the hard work to win this New Cold War and deter the outbreak of a hot war? The leadership of Speaker Johnson and Chairman Moolenaar shows that meeting this moment is possible, but history suggests that America requires a to fundamentally shift its grand strategy. From Pearl Harbor to 9/11, America has needed external attack for the word 鈥渧ictory鈥� to mean something. It is up to the incoming administration and the new Congress to make history by getting ahead of the crisis. Much depends on the next four years.
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