Carolyn Bartholomew, chairperson, US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
On November 17, a permanent US government commission that reports to the Congress and President Joe Biden released its latest report at a virtual event in Washington, DC.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, set up in October 2000 to preserve American and allied interests, said China wants to “prevail in an ideological and civilisational clash with the US and other democracies”. The report says China is building “militarised villages” on the India border and targeted “at least ten regionally important nodes in India’s power grid and two sea ports with cyberattacks”.
Chairperson Carolyn Bartholomew said the commission was pleased that India was “stepping up and working with us, Australia and other countries in [the Indo-Pacific] region”. Asked about how the commission perceived India’s role in containing China, she told THE WEEK: “What I find particularly interesting is that when we were in India, in 2008-2009, it was really clear that people in the Indian government were hedging—they did not want to make a decision on whether to align with the US or with China. But those circumstances have changed.”
The commission’s recommendations have often resulted in legislative action—such as the ban on Huawei during the Trump administration (Biden recently extended it). Commissioner Derek Scissors said it was in US interest to take measures to decouple India’s production supply chain from China. “The US can consider some concessions on the trade side to help India,” he told THE WEEK. “[Supply chains] is an area where US-India cooperation is possible. Elsewhere it might not be. India may not want to move in a direction we want, and we may not be able to engage. But, on the supply chain side, India can replace China to some extent with US help.”