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WASHINGTON — A newly formed House committee devoted to examining economic competition between the U.S. and China is holding its first hearing on Tuesday night, capping off a day of maneuvers on Capitol Hill aimed at holding Beijing accountable for recent national security offenses.
The Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party was formed in January shortly after Republicans took the majority in the House. Its inaugural event, scheduled for primetime at 7 p.m. ET, comes as lawmakers in the House and Senate renew their focus on China after the U.S. shot down a CCP surveillance balloon earlier this month.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) (C), chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, joins Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) (L) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) for a news conference following a GOP caucus meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill on February 28, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Committee Chair Rep. Mike Gallagher said the hearing will spotlight human rights.
“We may call this a ‘strategic competition,’ but this is not a polite tennis match,” Gallagher, R-Wis., will say in his opening remarks, according to a copy reviewed ahead of the hearing. “This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century — and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake.”
An example is the U.S. government’s targeting of the popular social media platform TikTok. The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced plans Monday to promote legislation giving the president the authority to ban the China-owned app in the U.S. TikTok boasts over 1 billion active users.
TikTok has been in lawmakers’ crosshairs since former President Donald Trump proposed using…
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