US House Panel Sketches Out Taiwan War Game With Wall Street Executives

On September 11, 2023, the United States House of Representatives’ China committee held a Taiwan war game with financial and business executives in New York, in an attempt to raise awareness about the risks connected to Americans making investments in China. Congressman Mike Gallagher, the Republican in charge of the panel, and Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, the panel’s leading Democrat, were in charge of the delegation, per a person close to the committee.
The war-game participants were representatives from investment banks, on top of current and former executives from pharmaceutical companies and retired four-star US military officers. The bipartisan delegation met with other financial executives in New York, as the committee ramps up its investigation of how American investment in China could pose a threat to US national security. On September 12, the panel held a hearing that will feature testimony from former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Jay Clayton and hedge fund short seller Jim Chanos.
The person familiar with the situation indicated that the elected officials wanted to hear from Wall Street executives about “the systemic risks that come with American capital flowing to China and how banks and other financial institutions think about their investments in China and exposure to the Chinese economy in the event of a political crisis.”
Krishnamoorthi said to the Financial Times that it was “important that our committee hear from the financial industry about how [Chinese Communist party] policies are affecting Americans’ savings and investments and what Congress needs to do to help protect American investors and our national security.”
The war game factored in the economic implications of a conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.
The increased number of congressional investigations comes during a time when the White House tries to stem the flow of US money to Chinese groups in technology with dual-use civilian and military applications. In August, President Joe Biden signed an order restricting US investment into China’s quantum computing, advanced chips, and artificial intelligence sectors.
The US is clearly trying to get into a great power competition with China. Competition against China on economic grounds is a good thing. However, trying to challenge China in the military sphere is asking for a geopolitical disaster of epic proportions to occur.
Such a disaster could have nuclear implications, something US policymakers should avoid at all costs if we want humanity to actually have a future.
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