The defense bill takes aim at China, but leaves out key restrictions

• The National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 includes several measures to counter Chinese influence, but has eliminated many others.
• Articles in the bill include investigations into whether defense funds were used by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, whether the Chinese government has supported Mexican drug cartels and require the United States to withdraw China as a “ developing country', while excluded articles vary from China studies. Africa's role in the arms export ban to Hong Kong.
• “[N]or a compromise with the Democratic-led Senate and the White House would be perfect,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a letter to his colleagues.

Congress's compromise version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) takes aim at China by scrutinizing its relations with Mexican drug cartels and Russia while leaving out key restrictions.

High positions a both of us the main political parties have often done so he stated that countering China's rise is America's top foreign policy priority. On December 6, congressional leaders released a 3,093-page document report with a compromise version of the NDAA, which includes several measures to counter Chinese influence, but dropped dozens of others, including an expanded arms export ban and studies on the influence of China abroad, which were included in the House version.

“We managed to whittle down foreign provisions to get to the NDAA, as evidenced by the fact that the final bill is 2,100 pages shorter than last year. While no compromise with the Democratic-led Senate and the White House would be perfect , the final product includes significant changes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a letter to congressional colleagues shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “[O]Our Congressmen on the National Defense Authorization Act have reached an agreement with their counterparts in the Senate that fulfills our promise to focus the bill on core national defense priorities.”

It's time to end Beijing as usual. Congress must seize the opportunities of this year's NDAA to counter threats from Communist China and do it for the American people. pic.twitter.com/3ZBkdV058u

— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) December 4, 2023

The China-related articles include a provision requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) to investigate whether any of its money was diverted to fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research center in China that is believed to be the alleged source of a lab leak of COVID-19.

Multiple US Govt ratings have concluded that the virus is likely filtered from a Chinese laboratory, with the Wuhan Institute previously receiving US taxpayer funds the National Institutes of Health through the EcoHealth Alliance for pre-pandemic coronavirus research. The NDAA prohibits the Wuhan Institute and the Ecohealth Alliance from receiving DOD funding.

The provision also requires an investigation into whether the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) received funds from the DOD, the People's Liberation Army, which makes up China's armed forces. Another provision requires the DOD to investigate whether the PCC supplied fentanyl production components to Mexican drug cartels, which use Chinese precursor chemicals to manufacture and ultimately traffic fentanyl into the United States.

Apart from these investigations, the NDAA also requires the government to oppose the classification of China as a “developing country” and to make efforts to revoke that status. China has the second largest nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in the world, a $17.9 trillion and a poverty rate of 0.6%, but is still classified as “developing” by many organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, which allows it to receive advantageous deal.

In addition, the bill would require intelligence officials to report to Congress if China is cooperating with Russia in any way regarding their respective nuclear weapons. China and Russia currently have a “without limits” strategic partnership, which has deepened amid Russia's Western isolation during its war against Ukraine.

However, several other China-related measures were dropped during the negotiations. These include a provision that would have banned funding to the EcoHealth Alliance for research projects supported by the Chinese government.

Other items removed from the bill include a ban on DOD funding of the Chinese film industry, a requirement that the DOD issue reports on China's presence in Africa and the Arctic region, as well as a commissioned study on how to stop fuel shipments to China in the event of a military conflict. An extension of the ban on arms exports to Hong Kong, whose government has deleted pro-democracy activism was also abandoned.

Johnson and Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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