The second most powerful senator on the senate intelligence committee says the United States needs a comprehensive plan to deal with threats from China.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) said that China poses a challenge to the international community because of how it combines its military, economy, business, and technology.
“It’s a challenge not just to the United States, not just to the West, but to all nations committed to democracy, individual liberty, an independent judiciary and the rule of law,” Warner said.
Unlike other countries, he said, all Chinese companies are required by law to act as an extension of the Chinese Communist Party. This allows China to use its businesses to advance its national interests.
Warner has sponsored a bill that would create an office in the White House to deal with the threat posed by China.
“No Chinese company, however global, is actually private,” Warner added.
Warner also said he intends to introduce legislation to address the use of shell companies for investments in the United States by the Chinese Communist Party and other bad actors. But he says the United States needs a broader strategy to address threats from China.
“I think we need a comprehensive strategy to defend against China’s bad behavior, to compete with China in the 21st century, and to strengthen the international order it seeks to upend,” Warner said.
