Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Wednesday announced a bill to surge investment for military infrastructure, weapons, and other assets in the Indo-Pacific region.
The bill, dubbed the “Forging Operational Resistance to Chinese Expansion (FORCE) Act,” would increase investment in U.S. military assets in the region by $43 billion. In a statement, Cotton said:
The Chinese Communist Party will try to exploit the world’s weakness in the wake of a virus it unleashed. We cannot allow it to succeed. The FORCE Act will greatly strengthen the United States’ position in the Indo-Pacific, allowing us to block China’s goals of regional dominance, and ultimately, competition with the United States.
The bill is aimed at thwarting the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to push the U.S. military out of the Western Pacific, as well as its efforts to intimidate its neighbors and unify Taiwan via military force.
The bill also aims to protect the U.S. defense-industrial base from any fallout from the coronavirus.
The bill states:
The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for unleashing this plague on the world. The United States will ensure that the Chi6 nese Communist Party pays a steep price for its reckless behavior by thwarting its military aspirations to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and to intimidate its neighbors, including our great allies and partners, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, and India.
The United States must dramatically step up investment for military infrastructure, weapons, and other assets in the Indo-Pacific region to further compete effectively with China. The United States must also ensure our defense industrial base recovers from COVID–19 ready to equip our military for the protracted competition that China so clearly seeks.
A breakdown of how the funds would be spent are laid out here.
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