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Top US-China panel urges halt to normal trade relations if no WTO compliance
- Congress also recommended to put more manpower into preparing for economic pain and military resistance to Beijing if Taiwan attacked
- Sweeping annual report indicates US must ‘take resolute steps to preserve and defend our interests and ideals’, chairman says
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Congress should suspend normal trade relations with China if Washington determines Beijing has not complied with the World Trade Organization market access agreement it signed decades ago, the US government’s top advisory panel on China policy said on Tuesday.
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In a sweeping annual report comprising 39 recommendations and covering nearly every aspect of the bilateral relationship, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission also called on US lawmakers to study the feasibility of blockading Chinese energy imports in the event of a military conflict involving Beijing, particularly those transiting the Strait of Malacca.
And in the latest sign of Washington’s growing alarm that Chinese leader Xi Jinping may attempt to invade Taiwan, the panel urged Congress to put more manpower into preparing for economic punishment and military resistance against Beijing if it were to attack the self-governed island.
“Xi’s personal and strategic ambitions for his and China’s place in history are clearer than they’ve ever been before,” said Alex Wong, the commission’s chairman, on Tuesday. “And so is the need for the United States to take resolute steps to preserve and defend our interests and ideals in response.”
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The 785-page report comes as tensions between Washington and Beijing flare at their highest level in years, and it reflects the enormous distrust in Washington towards Beijing on essentially every aspect of the relationship – from trade policy to human rights to its sabre-rattling towards Taiwan.
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It also comes just one day after US President Joe Biden and Xi met face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office in early 2021. The two leaders committed to working together on climate change and agreeing to communicate more, but are otherwise staunchly opposed on almost every other issue of consequence.
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