Top Democrat urges closer US-China cooperation on shared challenges

Ranking congressman on House intelligence committee highlights climate change, fentanyl and global health as areas for cooperation

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US congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut is the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Photo: AP

Published: 5:28am, 7 Dec 2024Updated: 6:34am, 7 Dec 2024

The top Democrat on a key US House committee argued for closer Sino-American cooperation amid strategic competition, the latest in a series of rare public instances of a lawmaker calling for a more measured approach to the bilateral relationship.

“We should be a little bit more sophisticated, a little bit more nuanced, a little bit more negotiation-oriented than the rhetoric” on Capitol Hill, said US congressman Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat and the ranking member on the House permanent select committee on intelligence.

Himes spoke on Friday at an event presenting the first-phase findings of a joint project by the Washington think tanks Brookings Institution and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies on “advancing collaboration in an era of strategic competition”.

Launched last year, the initiative seeks to “diagnose barriers now impinging on collaborative efforts” and “develop a playbook of best practices” to improve collaboration across different areas.

Himes highlighted some areas typically advanced by those advocating cooperation: fighting climate change, combating fentanyl and preventing pandemics and enhancing global health.

Himes (right) with US congressman Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House intelligence committee. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

But he also said the US and China could collaborate on trade and producing artificial intelligence research as well as welcome more mainland scientists to American research institutions.