Washington, March 29: The US Senate passed the America COMPETES Act legislation to increase competitiveness with China on economic and national security matters, moving the bill forward to resolve differences with the House version. The Senate passed the legislation in a vote of 68 to 28 on Monday. This legislation would seek to ease supply chain bottlenecks on items like semiconductors and bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States, authorizing $45 billion to improve US supply chains and prevent shortages of critical goods by ensuring more are made in the country. The bill would also direct the Biden and subsequent administrations to submit a six-month review identifying areas of potential dialogue between the Chinese and US governments on ballistic, hypersonic, nuclear, space and cybers issues. It similarly directs the US administration to develop a concrete plan to engage in arms control talks with China, and alternative plans to address arms control concerns should efforts to enter negotiations with Beijing fail. To address China’s presence in the Arctic, the bill would call on states in the region to reach an agreement to maintain peace and stability in the Arctic region and counter China’s Polar Silk Road initiative, among others. (UNI)
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