Revamp US assistance to counter China

By Daniel Twining

WASHINGTON, April 13: As Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team undertake their ambitious reforms to the U.S. development aid sector, they have a tremendous opportunity to dispense with the politicized ambitions of the previous administration and instead invest in diplomacy and strategies that will serve the country’s core interests. Countering China — with non-military methods — should be central to our approach.

China’s most significant instrument for exerting global economic and political influence is the multibillion-dollar infrastructure development scheme known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Undercutting the leverage this scheme has earned Beijing is a prime challenge for the United States. It is an area where the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and Millennium Challenge Corporation should play important roles as part of our soft-diplomacy repertoire. Additionally, the provision of humanitarian assistance around the world would demonstrate America’s benevolence in contrast to China’s predatory model.

However, there is another instrument of American soft power that should undergird these investments to ensure that we are not throwing good money after bad: democracy assistance. Modest investments in strengthening democratic institutions in strategic countries can help ensure that America’s international partners are able to resist Beijing’s machinations. Furthermore, democracy specialists can provide the expertise and ongoing in-country presence needed to keep the MCC and DFC abreast of the local context and ensure that any agreements can be crafted or reconsidered accordingly.

In our own hemisphere, the Chinese Communist Party uses methods including opaque financing deals and malign media operations to shape Latin America’s political, legal, media, and economic landscape at America’s expense. Programs that expose CCP practices in critical industries foster economic collaboration between the U.S. and Latin American partners in strategic areas and promote open markets as a more attractive alternative to China’s state-run model and are critical to regaining ground ceded to China under previous administrations.

Across Africa, China has funded infrastructure projects that leave African states in debt traps while lining the pockets of corrupt elites to secure favorable trade conditions and access to critical minerals. The CCP has also increased military cooperation with African nations from Nigeria to Mozambique, including joint exercises and securing critical port access for Chinese naval assets. U.S. investments in programs that strengthen institutions and political competition can expose China’s actions to greater scrutiny, rendering politicians better equipped to see the advantages of partnering with the U.S. over China.

In Asia, the CCP preys upon countries with weak institutions and media cultures to advance its strategic interests at American expense. Effective countermeasures must resist the CCP’s control over information, diminish its political influence, and build resilience against economic and political coercion. Targeted measures, such as partnering with independent journalists to expose CCP propaganda and information manipulation and working with parliaments to develop legislative responses to Chinese coercion and strengthen ties with the U.S., would provide key entry points to advance America’s goals.

China’s goal is to win without fighting. The CCP wants to shape a world in which foreign leaders defer to Beijing’s revisionist ambitions over the heads of their citizens. Helping nations pursue effective self-government is a strategic counter to those designs. China’s use of political and economic tools to impose its choices has become a problem in election campaigns on multiple continents — demonstrating that where citizens can hold leaders accountable and shine a light on corrupt practices, it is harder for China to coopt or capture foreign elites to do its bidding.

The U.S. must deploy all its tools to prevail against China and create the conditions for America to emerge safer, stronger, and more prosperous. This requires a favorable U.S. offer more attractive to citizens in friendly countries than China’s opaque inducements.

The administration should pursue a bold strategy that goes far beyond the half-hearted initiatives of the previous administration and use soft-diplomacy tools to maximize our strategic advantage. Efforts to strengthen democratic institutions in key countries so that they make better partners for America — and are better able to resist and counter China’s designs — should be a key component of this revamped approach to global engagement.