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1 [1] (February 2, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/goveklo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing Ih legisIative debate since 1914 China Primer: U.S.-China Relations US-China Competition Congress has intensified its legislative and oversight activity related to the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) in response to growing concerns about PRC actions and intentions. Upon his election as House Speaker in the 118th Congress, Kevin McCarthy identified the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) as one of two U.S. long- term challenges for the House to address, the other being the national debt. On January 10, 2023, the House voted to establish a Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party to investigate and submit policy recommendations on the status of the Chinese Communist Party's economic, technological, and security progress and its competition with the United States (H.Res. 11). The Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Administration presents the United States as engaged in geopolitical competition with China over the shape of the future global order, part of a broader contest between democracies and autocracies. The Administration's October 2022 National Security Strategy outlines a three-part strategy for out-competing China: first, to invest in competitiveness, innovation, resilience, and democracy at home; second, to align U.S. efforts with those of allies and partners; and third, to compete responsibly with the PRC to defend our interests and build our vision for the future. The document states that the Administration also seeks to engage constructively with the PRC wherever we can. Following a November 2022 meeting with China's top leader, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping, Biden noted, We're going to compete vigorously. But I'm not looking for conflict. Top PRC officials have decried the U.S. government's identification of China as the leading U.S. competitor and dismissed the Administration's assertion of a struggle between democratic governance and authoritarianism as a false narrative. They have also condemned congressional actions, including China-related provisions of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263). A PRC readout of the Biden-Xi meeting paraphrased Xi as saying the two countries need to explore the right way to get along with each other and seek peaceful coexistence. Mechanics of the Relationship Under the Biden Administration, in-person interactions between U.S. and PRC officials at all levels have been limited. That situation is related in large part-though not exclusively-to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The PRC government kept China's borders largely closed for nearly three years in an ultimately failed effort to enforce a zero-COVID approach to the pandemic in China; borders reopened on January 8, 2023. During this Updated February 2, 2023 period, China's top diplomats met occasionally with U.S. counterparts outside China, senior U.S. officials who traveled to China were subject to onerous COVID-19 protocols, and U.S. diplomats in China faced severe limitations on their activities. Xi himself did not travel abroad for 32 months. The November 2022 Biden-Xi meeting, held on the sidelines of a gathering of the G-20 nations in Bali, Indonesia, was the two leaders' first in- person meeting of the Biden Administration. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is scheduled to make his first visit to China in his current position on February 5-6. In 2021, the State Department and the PRC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs established joint working groups to address a limited set of issues. The groups, which continue to meet, have made modest progress on such issues as visas for journalists, the cases of American citizens subject to arbitrary PRC exit bans, and diplomatic reciprocity. Following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022, the PRC government formally suspended cooperation with the United States in several areas, including transnational crime and counternarcotics; suspended climate-change talks; and cancelled meetings of several military-to-military dialogues. Climate-change talks have since resumed. In December 2022, the State Department launched a new Office of China Coordination, known as China House. In a statement, the department said the office would draw on regional and functional expertise from across the department to meet the most complex and consequential geopolitical challenge we face. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a dedicated China Mission Center in 2021. CIA Director William J. Burns said at the time that it would allow CIA to strengthen its work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 211 century. Seiect Issues in U.S.China R.ations Taiwan Since then-Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the PRC has stepped up military activity around the island. The White House says Biden raised the PRC's coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan in his meeting with Xi. In a post-meeting press conference, Biden said he made clear that differences between Beijing and Taipei should be peacefully resolved. He also stated that he did not see any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan. The PRC claims sovereignty over self- ruled Taiwan and has long vowed to unify with it, by force if necessary. Since 1979, the United States has maintained official relations with the PRC and unofficial relations with Taiwan. To deter the PRC from use of force or coercion against Taiwan, the 117th Congress passed the Taiwan