The U.S.-China Commission Unveils 20 Recommendations for Congressional Action

By Elizabeth Brotherton-Bunch
Nov 18 2016 |
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Ten of which are of “particular significance,” according to the bipartisan commission.

Preventing Chinese state-owned enterprises from acquiring American companies led the list of 20 recommendations the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission offered to Congress in its 2016 annual report, which was released this week.

The commission also urged Congress to direct the Government Accountability Office to examine the impact of outsourcing on the defense industrial base, enact legislation to ensure Congress has a say in China’s market economy status and require that Chinese state-owned enterprises cannot have standing under U.S. laws to block an unfair trade case from proceeding.

The commission is required by law to present an annual report to Congress, and it is the 14th time that it has done so. But the commission’s recommendations seem particularly timely this year, given the role that trade issues with China played in the 2016 election.

Commissioners pushed Congress to get tougher on China overall, particularly on economic and trade issues. They noted:

China’s actions in the economic, foreign policy, and military realms suggest China’s leaders have decided the time has come for China to leave behind its long-held strategy, espoused by Deng Xiaoping, of ‘hide your strength, bide your time.’ China is showing itself to the world now, and the outcome is not what many had hope for 15 years ago when the country was welcomed into the WTO and the global economic system.

Other top recommendations from the commission include taking steps to strengthen U.S. high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and semiconductors; ensuring U.S. government agencies have sufficient personnel, funding and Chinese-language capabilities to study China’s trade policies and commitments; and examining U.S. access to China’s domestic market. In addition, the commission had several recommendations deisgned to address rising tensions over the South China Sea.

Read the executive summary, and check out the full report.