White House asks U.S. agencies to detail all
China-related funding
WASHINGTON, Sept 5 - The White House has asked
U.S. government agencies for extensive details
of any funding that seeks to counter China's
global influence and business practices, or
supports Beijing, amid growing tensions between
Washington and Beijing.
According to an Aug. 27 White House Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) document seen
by Reuters, the OMB directed U.S. agencies
to submit "cross-cutting data on federal funding
that aids or supports China, or that directly
or indirectly counters China's unfair competition
and malign activities and influence globally."
China denies it engages in unfair competitive
practices.
The document, titled "Strategic Competition
with China Crosscut," does not say how the
information will be used other than that it
will "inform policymakers" of the myriad ways
U.S. government spending involves China.
The United States and China have grown antagonistic
toward each other with disagreements that
stretch from a two-year-old trade war, to
the Trump administration blaming Beijing for
a lack of transparency about the spread of
COVID-19.
The sweeping budget data request will be used
to help policymakers and notes all funding
should "reflect strategic priorities" when
responding to China.
Some U.S. programs and spending under review
dates back a decade or more.
The document directs federal agencies to respond
by Sept. 21.
A spokesman for OMB confirmed the agency effort,
telling Reuters that "to ensure that the United
States remains strong and in a position of
strength against rival nations like China,
OMB has asked federal agencies for all funding
meant to counter China, or which could aid
China."
The memo includes instructions on how to submit
both classified and unclassified U.S. spending
details and seeks details of all U.S. government
funding directed for spending inside China.
The White House document asks for data for
all U.S. government funding used to "counter
malign Chinese influence or behavior incongruent
with American interests."
It cites as examples "funding for programming
to counter the One Belt One Road (OBOR) or
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); funding for
military operations, equipment and infrastructure,
the primary purpose of which is to deter aggressive
Chinese behavior."
It also seeks details of "secondary" U.S.
efforts on China like "marginal contributions
which were necessary to maintain a U.S. lead
over China in terms of voting power within
key international organizations" and funding
for other U.S. efforts.
The document also seeks data on U.S. government
funding for programs whose primary purpose
is to counter Chinese technological prowess
in key sectors like 5G and wireless communications,
semiconductors, artificial intelligence and
machine learning, quantum computing, cyber
and system security, advanced manufacturing
and robotics, autonomous and electric vehicles,
biotechnology, advanced energy, and space
technologies.
The White House sought details of spending
on technical assistance from U.S. government
experts, bilateral funding for the U.S.-China
Clean Energy Research center and any other
U.S. bilateral economic assistance programs.
It also seeks data on "HHS (Health and Human
Services) funding for CDC (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention), NIH (National Institutes
of Health) and other programming in China."
The request also seeks details on any spending
that "would overall contribute to Chinese
GDP or technical capacities, including to
Chinese government or military entities, State-owned
commercial or industrial entities and entities
functionally directed by" Chinese government
leadership as well as grants or credit provided
by U.S. supported international organizations.
Agencies must submit data on 2019 and 2020
budgets enacted into law, the 2021 Trump budget
proposal and 2022 agency budget requests.
The budget review is just the latest effort
that could lead to more actions against China.
Last week the United States blacklisted 24
Chinese companies and targeted individuals
it said were part of construction and military
actions in the South China Sea, the first
such U.S. sanctions move against Beijing over
the disputed strategic waterway.
