Tell Your Congressmember to
Keep Militarism Out of the USICA!
CODEPINK
Graphic What Congress and media pundits won’t tell you about the US Innovation & Competition Act
Congress is again using the “threat” of China to increase the Pentagon budget and escalate aggression on China, which will only lead to more violence toward Asians at home!
ACTION: Ask your representatives to say NO to militarism and xenophobia! War is NOT innovation!
Congress is wasting trillions of US taxpayer dollars on beefing up an already overinflated military budget to escalate war on China as they scramble to pass the Build Back Better Act! CODEPINK needs your help to Cut the Pentagon budget, end militarism at home and abroad, and stop aggression toward China and Asian/Asian Americans!
The latest package of legislation Congress is trying to push through to ramp up the US hybrid war on China is the US “Innovation” and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA), sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer. The USICA is a Frankenstein-like combination of several targeted anti-China bills—including the Endless Frontier Act, the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, and the Meeting the China Challenge Act—into a single, monstrous 2,276-page bill. (In comparison, it’s only a couple hundred pages shy of the Build Back Better Act, which is 2,466 pages). Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are trying to push this bill through Congress as quickly as possible. We can’t let that happen!
Although Congress and media pundits have been framing the bill as a necessary investment in technology and research, which would potentially ease supply chain pains with the CHIPS Act, they fail to mention that the USICA also includes an overblown renewed pivot to Asia and recommitment of military resources to the Asia-Pacific for the multi-domain US hybrid war on China.
In its current form, the bill would also prioritize excess missile and weapons transfers to ASEAN partners and increase joint force military exercises with the Quad alliance. The USICA will squander even more of our tax dollars for the US’s next forever war, dangerously increase the risk of a nuclear war with China, and contribute further to climate devastation through increased US military emissions.
Just last month, President Biden held a virtual meeting with President Xi Jinping and claimed that “the US has no intention to have a conflict with China” and is seeking to increase dialogue and reduce miscommunications. According to a White House readout on the meeting, the United States is committed to the “One-China” policy and “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Yet the USICA is a setup for war and conflict with China — in particular over the status of Taiwan. The USICA’s Sec. 3213 — “Enhancing the United States-Taiwan Partnership” — states that Taiwan is “a vital national security interest of the United States” and commits the US to [provide] regular weapons, command control, and missile transfers, as well as the training of Taiwanese troops. Increase of sophisticated arms sales to Taiwan is in violation of the “One-China” policy and the Three Communiqués.
Alarmingly, the USICA would further fuel the dangerous climate of xenophobic, racist, and McCarthyist surveillance of Chinese students and researchers in the US through provisions about “Security Concerns” at universities. The bill’s whopping $500 million for Sinophobic and anti-China propaganda through the US Agency for Global Media (which includes the known CIA propaganda cutout, Radio Free Asia) would also risk inciting more violence against Asians and Asian Americans in the United States.
ACTION: Keep militarism and xenophobia out of the USICA. Contact your Member of Congress NOW!
THE LETTER
Dear Senators, Dear Congressmember:
As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to remove the dangerous militarism and xenophobia from the US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA) to ensure that the bill commits to research and technology investment and does not contribute to military aggression or domestic racism against Chinese people.
I find it unacceptable that the USICA in its current form will squander even more of my hard-earned tax dollars for the US’s next “forever war,” dangerously increase the risk of a nuclear war with China, and contribute further to climate devastation through increased US military emissions.
Furthermore, I do not want to see Chinese researchers or Chinese international students surveilled, racially profiled, or denied their rights. The funding for anti-China propaganda in the USICA will also incite more anti-Asian violence domestically. The US hybrid war on China already has many victims, including East and Southeast Asians & Asian Americans who have been targeted as a result of racist propaganda, scapegoating, and China-bashing from the US government and media pundits.
Just last month, President Biden held a virtual meeting with President Xi Jinping and claimed that “the US has no intention to have a conflict with China” and is seeking to increase dialogue and reduce miscommunications. According to a White House readout on the meeting, the United States is committed to the “One-China” policy and “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” Yet in Sec. 3213, the USICA sets the United States up for war and conflict with China, in particular over the status of Taiwan. I do not support this anti-diplomatic sabotaging of our President’s efforts to negotiate peace and cooperation with China.
I find the following provisions and allocations in the bill to be wasteful, dangerous, self-defeating, and completely unnecessary and am requesting that you remove them before allowing the bill to go to a vote:
• (Sec. 3219B) $10 billion over the next 5 years for the Department of Defense to “enhance the United States’ commitment in the Asia-Pacific region” by, for example, “expanding its defense cooperation with its allies and partners” through amending and expanding the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018
• (Sec. 3225, Sec. 3227) $880 M over the next 5 years for international military education and training in the Asia-Pacific
• (Sec. 3203) Even more dangerous and polluting military-to-military joint force exercises with the Quad alliance
• (Sec. 3228) “Excess defense article transfer commitments” to ASEAN partners, including missile systems
• (Sec. 2515) Risks of nuclear war with China
(Sec. 3213) Violations of the long-standing and agreed-upon “One-China Policy” through declaring that the defense of Taiwan is a national priority and through further arming and training Taiwanese troops
• (Sec. 3136) $500 M for anti-China propaganda journalism through the US Agency for Global Media
• (Sec. 7903, Sec. 2526) Domestic xenophobic, racist, and McCarthyist surveillance of Chinese students and researchers at US universities
As a US taxpayer, I sincerely hope that you will honor President Biden’s commitments to preventing conflict, including nuclear war, with China, and promoting diplomatic cooperation between the two nations for people, planet, peace, and a future for all!
ACTION: Call Script:
House Rep. __, my name is ____ and I am your constituent in zip code ____. I am calling to urge you to please remove the $10.8 billion for military spending for the Asia-Pacific region, excess missile and weapons transfers to regional partners, McCarthyist surveillance provisions, and xenophobic propaganda funding from the US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021! Thank you.
Further Information: You can read the full text of the USICA in its current form here. International supporters can read more and share to spread the word about the dangers of the USICA!
Onward toward peace,
Jodie, Lauren, the CODEPINK China Is Not Our Enemy campaign, and CODEPINK
