With less than 70 days left until the 2024 US presidential election, both candidates from the two major parties, spanning from congressional members to presidential hopefuls, have significantly increased their mentions of China in campaign ads, surpassing previous years. Both parties are emphasizing their tough stances towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to a report by The Washington Post on Monday, as of 2024 election, a total of 171 campaign ads from congressional members or presidential candidates have included content related to Beijing. The escalating tensions between the US and China have intensified the focus on China-related issues in this election year.
As candidates engage in a tug-of-war, both the Democratic and Republican parties are highlighting their opponents’ attitudes towards the CCP to emphasize their own tough positions on China, aiming to boost their chances of success in the election.
These ads articulate negative views on China under the CCP’s rule while also increasing the possibility of a more aggressive future policy towards China by the US Congress.
According to an earlier Gallup poll this year, about 80% of Americans hold a negative view towards communist China. Many Americans associate China with the COVID-19 pandemic, the fentanyl crisis, and economic challenges in the US.
“Right now, Beijing is not very popular among Americans,” said Republican political consultant Whit Ayres to The Washington Post. “People generally believe they engage in intellectual property theft and don’t play by the rules.”
Chinese companies have been accused of stealing US intellectual property, the CCP regime is alleged to violate environmental and international trade laws, flooding the US market with cheap products, impacting American domestic industries, while striving to surpass the US in cutting-edge technology development and essential mineral extraction through unfair means.
Throughout US election campaigns, taking a tough stance on China has been a recurring theme. For instance, former President Trump made tariffs against China a core issue during the 2016 campaign, winning strong support from voters in Rust Belt states with struggling manufacturing industries, as many US manufacturing jobs were outsourced to China.
The latest indications suggest that the Democratic Party is now more actively advocating on this topic, a shift from the past where it was typically hawkish Republicans who brought up these issues.
Senate races in the Midwest this year are exceptionally intense. Some Democratic incumbents in swing states or tight races are trying to criticize their Republican opponents on China-related issues to secure re-election – as well as to maintain their slim majority in the Senate.
In the 2020 elections, 82% of China-related ads in Senate races were from Republican groups or supported by the GOP. For the upcoming 2024 election, the majority of China-related ads are funded by the Democratic Party, with Republicans’ ads making up only 36%.
An analysis by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace showed that since 2019, Congress has taken a tougher stance towards Beijing, with the number of China-related bills introduced in 2021 being six times that of 2013.
In recent years, Congress has allocated billions of dollars for modernizing the US military to prepare for potential conflicts with CCP forces, while also restricting Beijing’s access to cutting-edge chips and ramping up efforts to build a global alliance. Confronting Beijing remains one of the few bipartisan consensuses in Congress.
Republican Congressman Andy Barr told The Washington Post: “The American people are beginning to realize that the Chinese Communist Party poses a real threat to national security.”
However, there are concerns that these attack policies and rhetoric towards Beijing could spill over onto Chinese Americans, including Chinese Americans. A report from the FBI indicated a surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, it is crucial to differentiate between the CCP and the Chinese people.
In a letter to nine government departments in March, Republican Congressman James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, reminded that the CCP propaganda falsely portrays racism and violent acts as attacks against Chinese people, aiming to sow division within the Chinese community and the US. He warned that under the guise of overseas Chinese, democratic societies are more vulnerable to CCP influence.
“It’s important that we avoid exacerbating racial divisions between Chinese Americans and Americans, which will only aid in the CCP’s political warfare,” he wrote.