As the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing drew on, the claims about China grew more and more unhinged, writes Megan Russell.
The U.S. Capitol at night. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Megan Russell
Common Dreams
On June 26, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability sat down for a congressional hearing titled, “Defending America from the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare.” This was one of many recent congressional hearings aimed at tackling the “China threat.”
As a general premise, I didn’t have a lot of hope for the hearing. Language is crucial, and the title says it all: any action by the U.S. is merely “defense” against acts of political warfare committed by China. And still, I was disappointed. Not only was it filled with racist, paranoid rhetoric, but it was supremely unjust, lacking any level of self-awareness, and almost certainly operated solely as an agenda-pushing cover for whatever act of warfare the U.S. government sought to commit next.
Three witnesses took to the stands. The first was Erik Bethel, a finance professional selected to represent the U.S. at the World Bank. He was followed by Mary Kissel, former senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Third was James E. Fanell, the former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet and current government fellow.
Big people with big titles. That is the usual order of things: a few “experts” are selected to “teach” members of Congress about complex subjects they may lack background in.
The Committee of Oversight and Accountability lacks China expertise. Representative Lisa McClain spent 10 years working for American Express before she was elected to represent the state of Michigan. Chairman James Comer was a Kentucky farmer. Representative Paul Gosar was a dentist in Arizona. Marjorie Taylor Green was a part-time CrossFit gym coach. Many of them have never traveled to China, let alone held a productive conversation with a member of China’s government.
Comer at an event in 2019 in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, Public domain)
Their lack of expertise didn’t stop them from sounding their opinions. I listened carefully, hoping to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was a fruitless endeavor.
Representative McClain spoke about her district:
“In Michigan, we have the Gotion plant … We have a Chinese-owned company and the only spot they can figure out that is feasible for them to build is next to a university and next to a military base. Anybody think that’s a coincidence?”
In the audience, the new summer Hillterns listened with rapt attention.
“I’m not much for coincidences,” McClain continued. “We talk about, well it’s gonna create jobs. Jobs for who? I’m very concerned, and I’m not much for coincidences.”
U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain. (Wikimedia Commons,
She was talking about the plans to build a new plant in Michigan for electric vehicle components under the company Gotion, which has headquarters in Shanghai. The plan is speculated to bring thousands of jobs to the area, with wages about 150 percent of the current average.
McClain, having no substance on which to defend her opposition to the plant, instead decided to speculate on its geographic location, implying the company is purposefully building near a university and military installation.
Clearly, the plant is a spy base for the Chinese government, as surely as any 18-to-26-year-old Chinese immigrant is an undercover Chinese soldier sent to wreak havoc upon our country — all baseless, unfounded claims that promote Asian American hate and shift public perception to support anti-China policies.
The military base she’s talking about is Camp Grayling, which is actually over 100 miles away from Big Rapids, where the EV plant will be built.
Tower at Grayling Air Gunnery Range in Michigan. (U.S. Air Force, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
As for the proximity to Ferris State University, the relevance of that statement is questionable. There are around 77 colleges and universities in the entire state — 198 if you include community colleges and trade schools. It would be difficult not to build near one.
This is merely one example of the outlandish and absurd claims made in the hearing, backed by anecdotal and unreliable “evidence” based on feelings and a strange paranoia that anything with links to China has malicious intentions.
In response to McClain’s statements, Mary Kissel said,
“Let’s not give them too much credit as long-term thinkers. Let’s remember they almost destroyed their country several times over.”
The words were spoken derisively, reaffirming my suspicion that Ms. Kissel boasts severe negative prejudices towards China and Chinese people. She continued to cite the Cultural Revolution, the debt crisis, and “etcetera.”
In truth, the U.S. is a mere baby in comparison to China’s 5,000 years of history. As for Kissel’s claims, to say Chinese people nearly destroyed their country is misleading and tinged with a disturbing colonialistic superiority that the West does everything better.
Kissel also stated her opinion of how China operates:
“China is a party state. The function of China is not to better the interests of the Chinese people– it is to promote, strengthen, and expand the power and influence, and reach of the Chinese Communist Party.”
I challenge this claim, not just for its wrongful absolutism, but because China has repeatedly shown immense interest in improving the everyday lives of its citizens. China is unparalleled in its developmental growth aimed at providing infrastructure and opportunities to the people. Housing, public transportation, health care, and education are all convenient and affordable. The average retirement age is 54 years old.
Pudong New Area, an economic development zone in Shanghai, in 2008. (Wolfgang Staudt, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Over the past few decades, the government has been working ceaselessly to eradicate extreme poverty with tremendous success. Over 800 million people have been taken out of poverty and afforded a better quality of life.
Not only that, China continues to emphasize the importance of green energy in building a sustainable future. Shenzhen, one of the country’s biggest high-tech cities, has switched all public transportation over to electric vehicles. This isn’t pro-China propaganda, it’s simply fact.
Along with forged criticism of China’s internal dynamics and history, the hearing also challenged China’s position when it comes to the U.S..
The overall goal of China, Kissel proclaimed, is to “upend our way of life and to dominate and change our way of life.” They are “committed to destroy(ing) us.”
At first glance, it sounds absurd that an individual so ostensibly high up on the policy advisory hierarchy would make such a condemnatory and extreme claim. But considering that Kissel served under Mike Pompeo during Donald Trump’s presidential term, it is not so surprising. It was not an administration known for its truth-telling.
Kissel in 2017, speaking at an event in Tempe, Arizona. (Gage Skidmore, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)
First and foremost, China has no plans to destroy the United States. We can easily cipher this through both statement and action. To claim otherwise is false and promotes a dangerous narrative that guides our policy-makers down a one-way path to war.
Erik Bethel’s claim that “China is encircling us” is also highly deceptive. Adversely, it is the U.S. that has encircled China with over 300 military bases and countless troops. China has no military bases in the entire Western hemisphere. There is no “encircling” occurring.
Former U.S. Representative Tom Malinowski criticized China for trying to make the U.S. “look bad to the rest of the world.” This is, at best, overwhelmingly hypocritical. Just recently it was uncovered that the U.S. launched a secret anti-vax operation in the Philippines during the deadliest months of the Covid-19 pandemic to undermine China’s influence in the region. According to a senior U.S. military official,
“We weren’t looking at this from a public health perspective. We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud.”
As the hearing drew on, the claims grew more and more unhinged.
“They’re teaming up with the Mexican drug cartels and they’re killing Americans,” Congressman Fallon told everyone, backing his claim that China is killing nearly as many Americans per day as died during World War II.
“They know how many paperclips you all are using in the Longworth building,” Representative Tim Burchett said, reminiscing about a Mike Pompeo quote.
“What if they were to develop some kind of biological entity that can, say, wipe out females of child-bearing ages or something?” Burchett queried.
“If you’re using this app (Tiktok), they can listen to you,” Another added.
“We should do the opposite of what China wants us to do,” Malinowski put forth as a general solution.
“We need to construct not just a defensive strategy, but an offensive strategy,” Kissel said decisively. Twice it was mentioned that her last name rhymes with missile.
It was as if the hearing took lines straight out of an SNL skit. It’s unfathomable that these are the people sitting in our congressional hearing rooms, talking about war. These are the people voting on legislation that could propel the U.S. into a conflict with China that would bring death and destruction to millions, and most likely end in nuclear catastrophe or total destruction of the planet.
U.S. politicians, although ignorant and lacking expertise, are willing cogs in the war machine. They bring the most anti-China and pro-military witnesses to the stands to reaffirm their own paranoid delusions about an all-knowing, all-hateful “other” across the sea that seeks to destroy everything bright and beautiful about the world. This is happening on a weekly basis.
The truth is that it is not China gearing up for war, but our very own government. Our politicians are pumping billions of dollars into hyper-militarizing the Asia Pacific and writing it off as “deterrence.”
They’re spouting lies and fear-inducing narratives at congressional hearings in a bid to garner support for anti-China legislation. These stories are trickling down through the media and infecting the minds of the general public, priming the U.S. military for its next conquest.
Why? Because the U.S. wants maintain global hegemony, even at the expense of all others. China is not a threat because it’s threatening our security — China is a threat because it’s successful.
Tucked securely in their offices, U.S. politicians will sign bill after bill funding proxy conflicts around the world, but they will never know the many hideous faces of war.
They’ll point fingers and make accusations, but they will never turn the mirror around to acknowledge their own hypocrisies. They’ll stand there saluting when bodies come home in boxes and claim it was for the greater good, but they will never face the consequences of their actions — they will never be forced to die for another’s deceptions.
Megan Russell is CODEPINK’s China is Not Our Enemy Campaign Coordinator. She graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master’s Degree in Conflict Studies. Her research focuses on the intersection between U.S.-China affairs, peacebuilding, and international development.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
A thoughtful, reasoned article. China bashing is nothing new. When I was a kid, ducking under desks during (H Bomb) air-raid drills in the 50s, we were constantly reminded that the USSR had us in their sights, and that California was facing an imminent “Yellow Peril,” with Mao getting ready to lead the troops onto West Coast beaches.
The fear-mongering worked then, and its working now. The neo-con sociopaths calling the shots in Washington can’t seem to negotiate the paradigm shift away from always needing enemies, to choosing more humane outlets for their pent up energies. Johnson had a War on Poverty. We need a War on Ignorance, as well as a shift in priorities to things like a possible Climate Catastrophe, the threat of Nuclear Armageddon, and scores of other societal and environmental needs that have been shoved to the sidelines while we spend trillions figuring out how to kill other humans.
And looking at the choices coming up in November, its hard not to get discouraged.
“Not only was it [Committee on Oversight and Accountability Hearing] filled with racist, paranoid rhetoric, but it was supremely unjust, lacking any level of self-awareness, and almost certainly operated solely as an agenda-pushing cover for whatever act of warfare the U.S. government sought to commit next. ”
Excellently expressed analysis, throughout.
American ignorance of foreign affairs in this one indispensable nation is even deeply ingrained into those who seek government office.
As stated, the problem is that these lunatics are totally insulated from their stupid actions.
My experiences have shown that not only does the average American not comprehend what is happening outside the USA but they also don’t comprehend what is happening outside their state. Ignorance and stupidity appears to be a badge of honour.
American ignorance, narrow mind and uppity is nothing new.
Yes to most of article but also yes to Jonny James comments. The China hatred has continued with Biden , with Obama’s pivot to Asia and has turned toward military threats and declarations that war with China is inevitable.
Thank you for all your work on this issue. This is a great article. Over the last 12 years or so I have come to know something of China as my son and his family live there. It is a wonderful country with such a rich culture and, as you say, has done great work in lifting so many of its people out of poverty and giving all sorts of opportunities to its citizens as well as building amazing infrastructure. My grandchildren are enjoying a wonderful childhood there—there is so much provision for them as society is so family friendly. It has been appalling to come to the realisation that the West is out to foster hatred and lies towards them with the goal of war. I meet so many ordinary people who just accept these lies as a matter of course. I so appreciate the stance Codepink has taken on this and the message you are putting out.
The level of not just incompetence of the administers of the US state, but their stupidness, is astounding, breathtaking.
If the purpose of the Chinese state “is not to better the interests of the Chinese people”, they have done an historically unprecedented job of taking China from a largely pre-industrial agrarian economy a century ago into a prosperous economic powerhouse, with beautiful cities, the best education system in the world, probably the most sophisticated space program, etc. — in passing? By accident? In their spare time? In their sleep? Oh, and by the way, China’s carbon emissions peaked in 2023.
What a contrast in achievements!
The West is in it’s death-throws, and its leaders seem to want to take the whole world with it.
This is the best article on China vs. the USA that I’ve ever read, in decades of reading.
Americans have been hostile to China and Chinese people since the mid-19th century. Think of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, e.g. Jack London and others wrote of exterminiating the Chinese people and replacing them, much as had happened to Native Americans. I have a bad feeling that our leaders in 2024 are not really more enlightened.
Excellent article. And yes, Lester. Sinophobia is a twisted, old malady. In the 19th century, Italian and Irish immigrants were frowned upon by Anglo-Saxon Americans because they were “papists”.
Chinese were untouchables–less than human. They weren’t even Christians or Jewish or anything?
In 1981, I bought property in an old, defunct coal mining area. The hillbillies next door told me stories about the old days–how Chinese laborers were simply shot there by miners who felt threatened because they might take their jobs. No recourse, no defense–no law.
“…But considering that Kissel served under Mike Pompeo during Donald Trump’s presidential term, it is not so surprising. It was not an administration known for its truth-telling…” As if the Genocide Joe regime is any less mendacious than the DT regime, let’s not be partisan here. No matter who “wins” the sham elections, the Washington Consensus will prevail and the Genocide of Palestine will continue.
The hypocrites and enablers in the so-called liberal media, and so-called progressives like AOC and Sen. Sanders make me want to retch: they are WORSE than the maggot crowd: they claim to support justice for Palestine, but want us to vote for Genocide. As Ray McGovern says: “they give hypocrisy a bad name”. It is simple, if you “vote” for the two pre-selected candidates – you enable genocide (and possible nuclear war with Russia and/or China)
Since unlimited political bribery is legal, Congress critters simply reflect the interests of their bribe-masters of oligarchy. Most Americans know next to nothing about foreign affairs, but I would say a significant amount of the ignorance in Congress is willful. It is hard to get a person to understand something when their paycheck depends on them NOT understanding it. (Upton Sinclair)
Good comment. The massive ignorance coupled with arrogance are indeed nausea-inducing. I hate being a citizen of a country run by such stupid, paranoid, ill-informed idiots.
Amen.