WASHINGTON — Asian-American lawmakers are arguing with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that he should appoint one of his own as the top Democrat on the new GOP-controlled select committee to examine the competition between the United States and China.
Amid a surge in anti-Asian violence sparked by the pandemic, they want to make sure the panel strikes the right tone, remains sensitive to the AAPI community, and doesn’t fan the flames of xenophobia any further.
Asian lawmakers, however, can’t agree on who that top Democrat should be.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said she spoke personally with Jeffries and recommended that Rep. Andy Kim, DN.J., should be the highest ranking member. Kim, a former State Department official who later served as national security adviser in the Obama White House, also spoke with Jeffries about the role, he told NBC News on Thursday.
Chu made it clear that he is defending Kim in a personal capacity, not on behalf of CAPAC, which held a lengthy meeting on the issue on Wednesday but has not endorsed a specific candidate for the job.
“I felt it was important to have someone in that ranking position who not only had the experience, which Andy certainly had with his 10 years in the State Department, but who could also push back against xenophobic rhetoric,” Chu said in an interview. . Thursday.
“Because this committee could be dedicated to that, and we know that when there is that xenophobic rhetoric, AAPIs pay the price.”
But at least two other CAPAC members have also expressed interest in the ranking member position: Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., a member of the Intelligence Committee; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a former Commerce Department official who now represents a predominantly Asian-American district in Silicon Valley.
“The Republicans have made it very clear that the committee focuses primarily on … counterintelligence and economic espionage issues that have been the focus of my own work, especially on the Intelligence Committee,” Krishnamoorthi said in an interview. “I think it’s crucial that the intelligence background informs our efforts, especially since the committee chair, Mike Gallagher, also comes from the Intelligence Committee.”
Added Khanna, a former Assistant Assistant Secretary for Commerce who focused on trade during the Obama administration: “I represent a majority Asian American district, I wrote a long piece on Foreign Affairs on rebalancing trade with China to reduce tensions and would have the confidence of progressive colleagues and CAPAC,” Khanna said.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst who is considering a possible 2024 Senate run, has also expressed interest in the lead role on the China panel. But while CAPAC is divided, its members agree that the ranking member of the new panel should be Asian-American.
“If they made a select committee from Africa, wouldn’t we choose an African American member? Think about it,” said a CAPAC member.
Chairman Kevin McCarthy appointed Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, as chairman of the new select committee tasked with examining the military, economic, and technological competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The House this week voted overwhelmingly 365 to 65 to create the special panel, with Democrats casting all the negative votes.
“This is going to be a very bipartisan committee,” McCarthy told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’ve lost jobs in China or intellectual property, because a lot of times we don’t speak with one voice from the United States.”
While Democrats said they respect and can work with Gallagher, an Iraq War veteran who serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, they said they are concerned others could use the China committee as a platform to further rhetoric. anti-Asian, fear and the scapegoat. that could cause harm to an AAPI community still reeling from a series of high-profile violent attacks.
Chu noted that former President Donald Trump called the Covid-19 pandemic “the China virus” and the “Kung flu” as one of the reasons the country experienced a dramatic increase in hate crimes and other incidents against Asian Americans. He also noted that in 1982, when economic competition between the United States and Japan reached a “boiling point,” it led to the murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin by two white autoworkers.
“So this is something we’re very, very aware of, using these kinds of words in such an enthusiastic way could do a lot of harm to AAPIs in this country,” said Chu, who is a Chinese-American.
“This could be a committee that does important things, solid things. But if it’s just a vehicle to attack China, it’s of no use to anyone.”
In addition to advocating for Kim, Chu said he recommended that Jeffries place four CAPAC members on the China special panel: Kim, Krishnamoorthi, Khanna and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Committee on Public Affairs. Veterans.
Democrats get a total of seven committee seats. A spokesman for Jeffries did not respond to a request for comment.
Kim, Krishnamoorthi and Takano joined then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year in her historic delegation to Taiwan, a move that inflamed tensions with Beijing.
“My family has experienced this discrimination; I have experienced it. And there is no question that there has been an increase in xenophobia,” Kim said in an interview just off the House floor. “But the challenge is that our competition with China could go on for a long time, it could get even more difficult.”
“I am concerned about some of the threats and challenges that the CCP has also engaged in, so I want to make sure that we are strong on national security,” Kim added.