Heritage Foundation: US is in Cold War with China

The Heritage Foundation released a report Tuesday that says the US is in a new Cold War with China, and that the US must take several steps to defend itself from China’s economic, military and cultural efforts to supplant American leadership, Report informs via Fox News.

"Whether politicians and pundits in Washington care to acknowledge it or not, the United States is in a new Cold War with the PRC, an adversary even more capable and dangerous than the Soviet Union was at the height of its power," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a forward to the report.

"Critical supply chains, from vital rare-earth elements to key phar­maceutical products, remain largely or wholly dependent on the PRC," he said. "The COVID-19 pandemic exposed just how much of the US economy is reliant on the PRC for essential goods and services."

The report finds that China is also working on US soil to subvert US culture by establishing itself on college campuses and in US cities, where Chinese authorities seek to regulate the activities of Chinese Americans. Because of these steps, and the broad rivalry seen on issues such as economic strength and military prowess, the report finds that the bilateral relationship "increasingly bears all the hallmarks of a cold war."

It is a message that is likely to resonate with Republicans in Congress – House Speaker Kevin McCarthy argued in December that the US has entered a Cold War with China – but also many Democrats who have joined with the GOP this year to pass legislation that recognizes the need to treat China less as an ally and more as a strategic threat. In early January, more than two-thirds of House Democrats voted with Republicans to establish a new House committee to examine America’s strategic competition with China, and many voted with the GOP to block the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Chinese entities.

After a Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over US territory and was shot down by the Biden administration after it was allowed to cross the entire country at 60,000 feet, every Democrat voted with Republicans in the House to condemn China and demand more information about the incident.

Among other things, the report calls on the executive branch to deny Chinese government access to Defense Department-funded research projects, eliminate all Chinese police operations in the US used to control Chinese Americans, ban Chinese-owned apps like TikTok, work with state and local governments to prevent Chinese companies from winning contracts to build infrastructure, and exert tighter controls over Chinese land purchases in the US.