The China-bashers in the Senate, like Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), have made clear that, should Biden become President, his nominees for cabinet and other key posts will have to pass the China “litmus test” when they are questioned in the Senate, and prove they are sufficiently virulent in their hatred of China. Politico reported Dec. 29 that Biden’s nominees will face “an unprecedented barrage of questions about how they plan to handle the Chinese government’s yawning ambitions—to the point where one expert called it a `China litmus test.’” Even those nominated for posts in which the China issue would seem to be irrelevant, may have to answer tough questions because “Beijing’s global clout touches so many different areas.”
Politico quoted Marco Rubio, who is expected to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee in the new Congress, who pontificated that “every U.S. official has a role to play, because the national security threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party to the United States cut across all aspects of our society, our economy and our government. Biden’s nominations will need to demonstrate a strong understanding of how their departments can respond to these challenges.” Rubio has already complained that some of Biden’s designated national security team are weak on China—that is, “polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline.”
