A US Congressional report has sought decisive action against China, accusing Beijing of increasing military buildup, violating other nations’ sovereignty and engaging in fatal skirmishes to conduct a land-grab on the Indian border.
In its report unveiled on Wednesday, the China Task Force of the House Republicans also supported the proposal of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the creation of a new D-10 group of leading democracies, including India, for addressing both 5G mobile communications and vulnerable supply chains.
In just the past year alone, the China Communist Party (CCP) has violated an international treaty and dismantled Hong Kong’s civil liberties; continued its oppression of ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs and Tibetans; increased its military buildup, conducted increasingly belligerent provocations, and violated other nations’ sovereignty at sea; engaged in fatal skirmishes to conduct a land-grab on the Indian border; and asserted new territorial claims over Bhutan, the report said.
India and China are locked in a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh. China unsuccessfully attempted to occupy Indian territory in the southern bank of Pangong lake in the last week of August.
China has been fast expanding military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific region, triggering concern in various countries of the region and beyond.
China is also engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the resource-rich region.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.
Praising the State Department’s July 2020 statement which said that China’s territorial aggression in the South China Sea is illegal, the report said that the administration could take similar action regarding the CCP’s illegal conduct in other areas, including around the Senkaku Islands and along India’s border.
The US, it said, should improve predictability of arms sales with allies and partners, and expand military training with allied and partner nations. Doing so will improve interoperability with the US, support and protect American values, advance US national security and foreign policy interests, and promote the US as the partner of choice, it said.