WASHINGTON D.C. –– Today, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), chairman of the House HomelandSecurity Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, delivered the following opening statement during a full Committee hearing to examine threats posed to the homeland by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Watch Chairman Guest’s full opening statement in a hearing entitled “Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security.”

As prepared for delivery:
 
Today’s hearing focuses on the generational threat that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to our homeland. The first step is to recognize the nature of our adversary.

For decades, China has steadily pursued a long-term grand strategy to replace the United States as the leading global power. We cannot afford wishful thinking or willful ignorance about the nature of the Chinese regime, its aims, and its ongoing efforts to undermine the United States.

We also need proactive measures to counter the CCP’s audacious actions that jeopardize our homeland security, especially given that most of the threats they pose are unfolding below the threshold of traditional conflict.
 
One of our distinguished witnesses, Dr. Michael Pillsbury, has persuasively argued that China is engaged in a Hundred-Year Marathon, a grand strategy to surpass and overtake the United States on the world stage and reorder the world according to the CCP’s priorities and values.

This long-term strategy is comprehensive. It is not limited to military capabilities—it includes the full range of economic, diplomatic, technological, and political competition. Critically, China is willing to play the long game and build up its power over the course of decades.
 
The CCP’s ultimate aim is not to enjoy a peaceful balance of power with the West, but to establish its position as the dominant world power. 
 
A world oriented around the vision and values of the CCP would look very different from the unparalleled freedom and prosperity produced by the Pax Americana. In contrast, Chinese hegemony would mean a global order subordinate to the desires and interests of a totalitarian Communist regime. 
 
In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has engaged in a sustained campaign of transnational repression, intellectual property theft, and espionage here in the United States.

Over the past four years, there have been more than 60 espionage cases across 20 states linked to the CCP, including operations to gather intelligence on sensitive military information and theft of technology and trade secrets.

Just this past December, a Chinese citizen was arrested for flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. He was apprehended in the airport trying to board a flight back to China. Additionally, agents of Beijing have targeted dissidents and regime critics within the United States through covert Chinese police stations in New York City and several other major U.S. cities.
 
Economic espionage and technology theft are key to the CCP’s strategy to undermine the United States while fueling its own technological advancement.

Today, the United States remains unmatched as a hub of technological innovation, but the PRC routinely and systematically steals technology and research from American companies and universities for the benefit of the Chinese state-industrial complex. Many Chinese corporations are state-owned enterprises, and China’s national security laws give the regime the power to force companies to hand over any information or data. 
 
Moreover, the CCP has implemented an assertive national strategy of Military-Civil Fusion to position the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as the dominant global military power by 2049. Part of this strategy is the mass intellectual property theft of sensitive information from both U.S. military and civilian targets.

The CCP exploits American research and development to the tune of several hundred billion dollars every single year. And this theft directly affects Americans. As one of our witnesses today, Mr. Evanina has stated—these losses cost the average American family of four between $4,000 to $6,000 yearly.

This is happening through traditional espionage tactics and targeted cyberattacks, affecting industries engaged in innovative developments ranging from military technology and artificial intelligence to semiconductors and medical research. 
 
Here in the 119^th Congress, this Committee has the opportunity to advance significant legislation to counter the CCP’s efforts to undermine our national security. Working together, we can find practical policy solutions to shift the playing field in our favor.

Whether we are countering acts of transnational repression, strengthening our cybersecurity with legislation like the Cyber PIVOTT Act, or shoring up our economic security and supply chain resilience, we can make some major headway on meeting the PRC challenge. The freedom and prosperity of the American people in the decades to come depends on our courage and foresight to take decisive action now.
 
I look forward to a serious discussion of the critical threats posed by the CCP to U.S. homelandsecurity as we kick off this Committee’s efforts to protect the homeland against foreign actors.

###