Bipartisan House China Select Committee Holds First Hearing

The newly created bipartisan House China Select Committee held its first hearing on Tuesday evening.

The Details: Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) laid out the threat that China poses to U.S. values and interests, and called for a concerted U.S. government response. While Republicans focused on a struggle against China's economic, ideological and military threat, Democrats on the committee focused on a domestic approach backed by government funding for a stronger industrial policy that would bolster U.S. democracy.

Key Quote: “Just because this Congress is divided, we cannot afford to waste the next two years lingering in legislative limbo or pandering for the press,” Gallagher said in his opening remarks. He also warned that failure to respond means “a world crowded with techno-totalitarian surveillance states where human rights are subordinate to the whims of the Party.”

For Context: The hearing was one of the first held by the House's new Republican majority. More hearings are expected as the Biden Administration faces a bipartisan push to take a tougher approach toward Beijing amid concern about the discovery and destruction of a Chinese spy balloon, new questions about COVID-19's origins and a possible lab leak, and rising tensions as U.S. intel suggests China is considering sending Russia weaponry for its Ukraine invasion.

How the Media Covered it: Sources across the spectrum covered the hearing. Some right- and center-rated sources highlighted protesters from left-wing group Code Pink who disrupted the hearing.