The US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill to revoke China’s developing country status

The “End China’s Developing Country Status Act” proposed by the Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee and the ranking Republican on the subcommittee in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chris Van Hollen and Mitt Romney, has gained support from multiple bipartisan senators, including Republicans Dan Sullivan, John Cornyn, and Tim Scott. The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the morning of the 8th.

Maryland Democratic Senator Van Hollen stated in a statement that “from its economic and military scale to its massive investments around the world, it is clear that China is no longer a ‘developing country’,” and “China has long used this status to gain unfair advantages in multilateral agreements.”

Utah Republican Senator Romney stated in another statement that “China is the world’s second-largest economy and is expected to surpass the United States economically”, and it is ridiculous that China “continues to be regarded as a developing country on the global stage.”

The “End China’s Developing Country Status Act” paves the way for the Senate to consider and approve the bill, but it is not yet clear when the Senate will vote on it.
Before the Senate passed the bill to remove China’s developing country status, the U.S. House of Representatives had already passed a similar bill. On March 27th this year, the House of Representatives passed the “U.S.-China Competitiveness Act”, which requires the U.S. State Department to exert influence on international organizations to classify China as a developed country to ensure that China cannot enjoy preferential treatment as a developing country on the international stage.

Jin Yingyu, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a Republican congressman, stated that China uses its developing country status to occupy resources that really need to assist other countries in the world.He emphasized that although China spends huge sums on infrastructure projects in developing countries, ultimately this leads to debt bondage caused by the Belt and Road Initiative.

In addition, U.S. Republican Senator Josh Hawley also proposed a bill called the “End Trading with China Normalization Act” in March of this year, aimed at revoking China’s most-favored-nation status and treatment. The bill requires the United States to repeal China’s normal trade relations status, impose higher tariffs on goods imported from China, and give the President the power to increase relevant tariffs.