Array
The United States became the most powerful nation in the world through American ingenuity, innovation, and manufacturing strength. However, over the past few decades, U.S. companies have invested heavily in China, despite the risks of putting critical American economic and national security capabilities directly into the hands of our adversaries. This means the U.S. government is knowingly at risk of being complicit in our Nation’s decline. We need to stop letting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) eat our lunch.
The pandemic shined a spotlight on a storm that was quietly brewing underneath the surface: Chinese government-backed companies control much of the world’s supply chains, and many that are critical to the U.S.’s economy. When COVID-19 first hit, U.S. hospitals and medical professionals could not find basic personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep doctors safe as they treated COVID patients. At that time, China was producing half of the world’s masks and hoarding masks for themselves before distributing to the rest of the world. It took the U.S. months to catch up in terms of manufacturing our own supplies. During the height of the pandemic, automobile and cell phone prices rose because of a reliance on China. The federal government has little insight into which critical capabilities have been moved overseas, and at what scale. We need greater transparency into where there are vulnerabilities before the next crisis.
But the problem is much deeper and much more dangerous than China’s manufacturing power. U.S. companies that play a critical role in our national security are expanding operations into countries, including China and Russia, and transferring sensitive intellectual property to companies based in these countries. Some companies even have ties to the Chinese military, which is actively working to use these technologies against us.
