• Keyden Smith-Herold

The United States Must Establish a Congressional Select Committee on China

Senator Jeff Sessions | Kevin Hagen/Getty Images

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions has recently called for Congress to establish a Select Committee on China, stating that the Chinese government “caused [COVID-19] by silencing those who tried to warn the world, by blocking American and international scientists from coming in to stop the outbreak early, and by faking infection and death rates to downplay the seriousness of the spread. And they are continuing to use their propaganda machine to obscure the record today.”

The Senator is correct— let’s examine the facts of the situation.

The Chinese Government sat on the knowledge of this virus months ago, even imprisoning and silencing doctors who tried to leak information about COVID-19 to the outside world. The Chinese Communist Party was more focused on their fake façade than actually taking steps to stop the virus in its tracks.

Because of China’s inaction, the severity of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic is exponentially worse. Tens of thousands of people have died and over a million have been infected. The United States government must hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their actions in concealing the reality of this virus.

Moreover, it is now confirmed by the U.S. intelligence community that China has and continues to lie about the coronavirus infection and death numbers in their country. It is not factually accurate to state that the United States is “leading the world” in COVID-19 cases. We simply do not know. Case numbers coming out of Iran and North Korea, for example, cannot be trusted.

Ahead of the outbreak here in the United States, our State Department wrongly shipped millions of PPE (personal protective equipment) masks to China in January and February. American companies wrongly sold tens of millions of dollars’ worth of these masks overseas, instead of working with our government to ensure that federal and local stockpiles were prepared for any future problems.

It has been reported that the federal government failed to replenish the emergency stockpile of medical equipment after the H1N1 outbreak in the U.S. a few years ago.

Yes, this was a mistake on the government’s part— but do not interpret this as a greenlight to accuse the U.S. of being culpable for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak here at home. No one could have imagined the level of severity we see today.

That being said, Congress must establish a Select Committee on China. The U.S. and the greater world must see the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated and spread their propaganda across the world— from the World Health Organization (WHO), to Chinese government run media organizations accusing the United States of creating and spreading the virus.

Federal, state, and local governments across the United States must focus on protecting and saving lives. That has always been and should always be the highest priority of government. But after this grave pandemic is over, China must be held accountable, and changes must be made.

First and foremost, we must stop reliance on China for medications and ingredients in prescription medication. How can the United States rely on a Chinese dictatorial state for our own medicine? This must end.

Lawmakers have introduced bills to ban the federal government from buying prescription ingredients from China, and this legislation must be expanded to personal protective equipment.

The United States also needs to entirely pull our manufacturing from China. We must make products here at home— it will create jobs and ensure workplace safety standards are being upheld. Companies need to bite the bullet and give up cheap labor for liberty.

Lastly, we must condemn, in the harshest terms, any discrimination or attacks against Chinese Americans here in the United States. Additionally, we must be able to separate the dictatorial Chinese Communist Government from their innocent people, who are the victims of its rule. We cannot blame the Chinese people— only their government which oppresses their own people and is an enemy to freedom across the world.


Keyden Smith-Herold is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Analytical