By Patricia Zengerle, Idrees Ali and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three of President Joe Biden's cabinet members testified on China policy at a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday, a rare joint appearance where they warned that proposed budget cuts would undermine Washington's ability to compete with the Asian power.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo appeared at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Biden's budget request and the U.S.-China relationship as Republican lawmakers and Biden's Democratic administration try to negotiate a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avert an economically catastrophic default.
Cabinet secretaries rarely testify together at public hearings, but both parties have been vying to show that they view the Chinese Communist government as the greatest challenge Washington faces.
Senator Patty Murray, chairperson of the Appropriations panel, pushed back against Republican calls for cuts in non-military spending in exchange for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.
"Let’s be clear: China isn’t debating whether to pay its debts, or wreck its economy. China isn’t debating whether to invest in its future, or cut and cap the investments that keep it competitive," Murray said in her opening statement.
Two weeks ago Senate Democrats announced a renewed legislative effort to stave off competition from China.
Last week Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, as both sides sought to move beyond an alleged spy balloon incident that caused a pause in relations this year between the two economic superpowers.
With strong support from both Democrats and Republicans, Congress last year passed - and Biden signed into law - the sweeping "Chips and Science Act" authorizing hundreds of billions of dollars to boost competition with Beijing in semiconductors and other technology.
Lawmakers are now looking at deterring China from initiating a conflict with Taiwan, improving relationships with third countries to ward off Chinese competition, tightening rules to block U.S. capital from going to Chinese companies and limiting the flow of U.S. technology to China.
"Competing with China... requires the use of the full extent of our economic, diplomatic and military tools," Raimondo said.
Austin said Washington would soon provide "significant" additional military assistance for Taiwan via an authority Congress voted to give Biden last year.
Lawmakers are also scrutinizing possible security threats from China, including looking at TikTok, an app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
The app has been banned from government-issued phones in countries such as Canada and Australia over concerns China can access user data or influence what people see.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Michael Martina and Idrees Ali; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker)
