Kim called rhetoric on China from some fellow legislators that was “unhelpful, untrue and reckless”. Citing the Chinese balloon transit across the US in January, Kim recalled, one Congressional committee chairman had even said on TV “that perhaps there’s a biological weapon flying over the United States”.
The US and China, Kim contended, were in the “early stages” of a “new paradigm shift” and that a “tremendous opportunity” existed to redefine the relationship.
Kim’s remarks struck a different tone from much of the rest of the bipartisan 24-member committee, formally known as the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
Since its establishment in January, the panel has largely focused its rhetoric and initiatives on countering Beijing. Though it has no legislative authority, it is mandated with presenting policy ideas to standing committees by the end of the year.
Last month, the committee released its first set of policy proposals, concerning human rights abuses in Xinjiang and defending Taiwan.
On Monday evening, members of the committee hosted Chinese dissidents at the US Capitol Building to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in attendance.
The Brookings-CSIS initiative will include historical case studies, practitioner and expert workshops, “proof of concept” exercises, strategy reports and translations of Chinese perspectives, according to the CSIS website.
Lily McElwee of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Photo: CSIS
Lily McElwee, a CSIS fellow who is one of the initiative’s core members, suggested that it would not seek cooperation “for the sake of cooperation”.
“When we think about China, we don’t have to play to a kind-hearted sense of … needing cooperation. We can play to their national interests,” she said.
