The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee slapped the Biden-Harris administration with a letter grade of “D” on Monday for its poor cooperation with European allies and partners on countering China.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and GOP committee staff released a 160-page report giving President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration a near-failing grade at halting “China’s efforts to bend the international order to its authoritarian ends and its pursuit of destructive political, security and economic policies.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has done this “by supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, employing predatory economic practices to undermine US and European competitiveness, exploiting weak scrutiny of university funding to conduct malign influence operations, and bending international organizations to serve its authoritarian goals,” Risch wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
“If we are to succeed in confronting China, the next administration must do more than the Biden-Harris Administration has over the last four years,” he urged his Senate colleagues. “We cannot afford to wait. “
The report highlights seven “key areas” where the US could be coordinating more with Europe to thwart Beijing, including at the United Nations, in Africa and the Indo-Pacific, as well as through trade, technology and other strategic investments.
“This updated report looks at the progress, or lack thereof, made by the Biden-Harris Administration on implementing these recommendations and proposes additional steps we must take to defend transatlantic security and prosperity,” Risch said.
The Republican report faults the administration for elevating candidates to UN positions without first running those officials by the US’ European allies, while largely turning a blind eye to malign foreign influence campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party at home.
In particular, Risch advocates for reforms to the Higher Education Act to beef up reporting requirements for foreign funding to US universities and transparency requirements for the foreign agents registration process.
The Justice Department probed whether first son Hunter Biden violated the Foreign Agent Registration Act in 2017 and 2018 as part of more than $6.1 million deal inked with CEFC China Energy — a now-defunct entity that was reportedly part of the CCP’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence campaign.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in an exclusive interview with The Post last year suggested that Hunter and first brother James Biden’s foreign dealings with Chinese entities may have inclined the president to be more “soft” in his approach to China.
“FARA reform should be a top priority for Congress and the DOJ, both to protect the homeland and to pursue cooperative efforts with Europe from a position of strength,” the report reads.
It also declares that the next presidential administration “must reverse course” from the Biden trade agenda that did not take “punitive action against China’s unfair trade practices, including outside the World Trade Organization” — and pushes for a new free trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
One of Biden’s signature legislative achievements — the Inflation Reduction Act — should also be stopped, according to the report, since it forces the US to rely on China for critical minerals.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia initially supported the law but later attacked executive branch agencies that implemented it for making the US overly dependent on Chinese supply chains for electric vehicle parts and minerals.
“American tax dollars should not be used to support manufacturing jobs overseas,” Manchin said in March 2023. “It is a pathetic excuse to spend more taxpayer dollars as quickly as possible and further cedes control to the Chinese Communist Party in the process.”
The GOP white paper further calls for a reversal of the ban on some liquefied natural gas exports, which Biden began in January 2024 and critics have since derided as an “election-year” stunt that won’t meaningfully affect the climate.