Thunder Out of Congress on China
September 11, 2020
Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics > Trustee China HandBy Scott Kennedy
The Trump administration has been rolling out new measures on China seemingly almost every day. All of them involve countering China in one way or another, often through expanded restrictions on some aspect of the relationship, from adding Chinese firms to the Entity List to expelling journalists and imposing penalties on Beijing for passage of its harsh national security law on Hong Kong. The institution at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue has also ramped up its activity on China. By some measures the 116th Congress has been more outspoken on China than any of its predecessors.
Congress has played an important role on China policy for many decades, including the Taiwan Relations Act (1979), sanctions following Tiananmen Square, the annual most favored nation (MFN)-extension votes, and the decision to give China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) in 1999. Some of the most important legislation is not China specific but still has a huge effect on bilateral relations. The two most obvious recent examples are the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) and the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA), both passed as part of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, to update, respectively, rules related to investment screening and exports of sensitive technologies. China was not singled out in the legislation, but the framing and drafting of both were done with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in mind.
The last two years, though, have witnessed a huge jump in Congressional activity. The clearest way to see this is to track China-related legislation, which one can do by using the Congress.gov database. (Our data primarily comes from the US-China Business Council’s Congressional Legislative Tracker, which catalogues legislation contained in Congress.gov. We supplemented this source with our own additional research.) The data reveal an astonishing level of activity: at least 366 bills with China-related content have been introduced since the beginning of the 116th Congress in January 2019. (This does not include another 75 non-binding resolutions related to China, which we do not systematically analyze here.) Most bills address a single issue, but some cover multiple China-related topics. As Figure 1 shows, the greatest focus, not surprisingly, has been on trade, commerce and investment. But the proposed legislation runs the gamut of issues, including supply chain security, defense and national security, human rights and democracy, the coronavirus, and immigration.
Figure 1: Topics Addressed in China-Related Bills in 116th Congress (Jan 2019 – Aug 2020)
Figure 2: A Tidal Wave of New Bills (Oct 2019 – Aug 2020)
On the other hand, attention to China has risen significantly by members of both parties in both houses. If measured by the number of sponsors and co-sponsors (right-hand side of Figure 3), Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the last quarter of 2019. During 2020, Republicans have held an edge in total number of sponsors and co-sponsors, but the trend lines are remarkably similar.
Figure 3: Sponsors’ Party Identification (Oct 2019 – Aug 2020)
Figure 4: Status of China-Related Bills in 116th Congress (Jan 2019 – Aug 2020)
Figure 5: Enacted China-Related Legislation in the 116th Congress
Date Introduced |
Date Became Law |
Public Law Number & Title | Summary |
1/22/2019 | 2/15/2019 | P.L.116-6: Consolidated Appropriations Bill, 2019 |
Requires government employees to report travel to China; Prohibits funds to be used to procure poultry products from China and to engage in bilateral activities with China in certain facilities; Limits approval of new construction in U.S. for China. |
10/24/2019 | 11/27/2019 | P.L.116-77: A bill to prohibit the commercial export of covered munitions items to the Hong Kong Police Force |
Prohibits the commercial export of covered munitions items to the Hong Kong police force. |
06/13/2019 | 11/27/2019 | P.L.116-76: Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 |
Amends the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992. |
06/11/2019 | 12/20/2019 | P.L.116-92: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 |
Authorizes FY2020 appropriations and sets forth policies for Department of Defense programs and activities, base realignment and closure activities, maritime matters; Sets forth policies for Department of Energy national security programs; Reports on influence campaigns by China in US and Taiwan, and repression of ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. |
03/25/2019 | 12/20/2019 | P.L.116-94: Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 |
Funds may not purchase raw/processed poultry from China; raises concerns about Chinese cyber threats/5G, defense plans in Asia and BRI; requires the President to develop a strategy and assist allies to ensure security of mobile telecommunications systems |
02/13/2019 | 12/20/2020 | P.L.116-93: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 |
Makes appropriations for FY2020, allocates funds for enforcement of China's antidumping and countervailing duties, mentions China as a cyberthreat, China's interaction with NASA and weaponization of space. |
01/16/2020 | 02/06/2020 | P.L.116-114: Temporary Reauthorization and Study of the Emergency Scheduling of Fentanyl Analogues Act |
Extends the temporary scheduling order for fentanyl-related substances, reviews impact of international regulatory controls on PRC. |
11/08/2019 | 03/12/2020 | P.L.116-124: Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 |
Establishes a mechanism to prevent and a program to remove communications equipment or services that pose a national security risk from entering U.S. networks. |
03/27/2019 | 03/23/2020 | P.L.116-129: Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2019 |
Requires President to develop a strategy to ensure the security of next generation mobile telecommunications systems and infrastructure in the U.S. and to assist allies and strategic partners in maximizing the security of next generation mobile telecommunications systems, infrastructure, and software. |
5/23/2019 | 3/26/2020 | P.L. 116-135: Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act of 2019 |
Requires the Department of State to annually report to Congress on steps to help strengthen Taiwan's diplomatic relationships and partnerships around the world. |
05/14/2020 | 06/17/2020 | P.L.116-145: Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 |
Imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities responsible for human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. |
07/01/2020 | 07/14/2020 | P.L.116-149: Hong Kong Autonomy Act |
Imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities that materially contribute to China's failure to preserve Hong Kong's autonomy. |
Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics > Trustee China Hand
Scott Kennedy is Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business & Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is grateful to Trustee Chair Program Manager Alyssa Perez and Research Associate Shining Tan for their research assistance and to the US-China Business Council for access to their database.
Related Trustee Chair Activity
Blog Post: Scott Kennedy, “The Biggest But Not the Strongest: China’s Place in the Fortune Global 500,” August 18, 2020.
Brief: Scott Kennedy, Washington’s China Policy Has Lost Its Wei, July 27, 2020.
Event: “A Book Talk on China: The Bubble That Never Pops,” June 26, 2020.
Event: “US-China Tech Competition and Cooperation in the COVID-19 Era,” April 8, 2020.
Report: Edited by Scott Kennedy, China’s Uneven High-Tech Drive: Implications for the United States, February 27, 2020.
