‘The Chinese Communist Party is waging a quiet war on American influence, and most people have no idea how far it has reached,’ Rep. Pat Harrigan said.
A bipartisan group of House representatives has introduced a bill to investigate Beijing’s influence operations around the world, saying that the step is necessary to protect Americans from the communist regime’s threats globally.
The proposed legislation would direct the director of national intelligence to examine the “national security implications of increased foreign malign influence” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to the bill’s text released by the office of Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.) on March 18.
Tran, who is leading the legislative effort, said the bill aims to equip U.S. policymakers with the “clear, evidence-based picture they need to protect the American people.”
“To effectively combat the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, our national security officials need the best possible information about the CCP’s growing threat to American security, our alliances, and our economic interests,” Tran said in a statement.
The bill, dubbed the Combating Chinese Communist Party Influence Act, is cosponsored by Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.), and Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.).
The legislative proposal represents the latest efforts in Congress to scrutinize the CCP’s reach around the globe, which has expanded rapidly in the United States’ backyard. In Latin America, for instance, China has emerged as the region’s top trading partner and a major lender, with state-backed companies controlling more than three dozen ports across the region, including the Chancay megaport in Peru, through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative.
“The Chinese Communist Party is waging a quiet war on American influence, and most people have no idea how far it has reached,” Harrigan said in a statement.
“From the Indo-Pacific to Latin America, to Europe and Africa, the CCP has been systematically working to undermine our alliances, manipulate financial systems, and erode confidence in the United States around the world.”
The legislation, if adopted, would grant the director of national intelligence 180 days to compile an intelligence community assessment that covers the CCP’s influence activities since Jan. 1, 2023. The report would be required to track the trend of such influence operations in key regions, including the Indo-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, while analyzing their impacts on U.S. alliances and perceptions of the United States, as well as financial systems in those regions and beyond.
The bill was introduced on the same day that the U.S. intelligence community issued its annual threat assessment, which identifies Beijing as “the most active and persistent cyber threat” to the U.S. government, private sector, and critical infrastructure networks.
By Dorothy Li
