Xinjiang bill shows China-bashing isn’t just a game for America’s hawks any more

As a Chinese-American with 50 years’ experience working with the State Department and Library of Congress, I interacted frequently with members of Congress, including such prominent figures as Ted Kennedy, Charles Percy, Henry Jackson, Mike Mansfield and Bob Dole. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, there was strong, open support and sympathy for China and Chinese people among Congress. Yet, in the past 10 years, much appears to have changed. While Congress used to speak of engaging and cooperating with China, it now seems committed to competing and containing. 

Dating back to the late 1970s and the normalisation of China-US relations, successive administrations and Congresses have argued that engaging with China and promoting its growth would lead to eventual democratisation. In 2000, when Congress agreed to grant China permanent most-favoured-nation status, Congress attached a provision requiring the establishment of a joint commission that would submit an annual report on the status of human rights in China. Congress made this stipulation to appease the concerns of members who criticised granting China this status on human rights grounds.

The most recent annual report by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China was released in October. In the opening statement, the committee’s co-chairs, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith, question the previous logic behind US-China ties, and suggest the dawn of a new era in relations between the two countries, requiring a recalculation of the strategic and economic interests of the United States regarding Beijing.