Leer en Español
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) expressed his opposition to President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion package focused on building energy infrastructure that would directly benefit companies beholden to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“His administration’s plan is not an infrastructure bill or even a green energy bill. It’s pro-China legislation that will strengthen the CCP at the expense of American jobs,” Marco Rubio said to Fox News.
Despite Americans increasing energy consumption with renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Energy Review, Biden seeks heavy investment in energy infrastructure.
Senator Rubio highlights a key point and that is the direct benefit of a regime denounced for genocide and crimes against humanity in the investments planned by the Democratic president.
For example, solar energy panels are, for the most part, produced by the Chinese industry. They originate particularly in the Xinjiang region, where the CCP built concentration camps and subjected religious minorities to forced labor and other human rights violations.
Biden contradicts himself, for while he claims that under his mandate China will not become the world’s leading country, he outlines an investment plan that ends up enriching the CCP.
The Republican senator mentions some of the products Beijing is preparing to sell to America, such as “solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations and other expensive green infrastructure, all industries in which China dominates production.”
However, it should be added that American tax dollars would buy technology where China is under scrutiny for countless thefts of intellectual property from American companies.
Marco Rubio’s proposal
Senator Marco Rubio lays out a proposal that contrasts with the plan outlined by the Biden-Harris administration. Aware of the need to invest in renewable energy, Rubio emphasizes the development of an American industry.
The American label that in conjunction with U.S. allies for the development of transparent technologies could also be used for the production of renewable energy infrastructure and products, generating jobs in the United States and guaranteeing a hand free of abuses and with true environmental stewardship.
Rubio focuses on two specific aspects. The first is a proposal that “clarifies that none of the money in the bill can go to China” and a second where the government “should increase domestic content requirements and apply Buy America requirements to all new spending to encourage massive domestic investment here at home.”
On the one hand, the senator warns against funding to companies engaged in human rights violations and China’s false rhetoric of environmental protection. On the other, real energy independence from the United States to foreign organizations or, in this case, the CCP.
As China pressures the West to comply with Paris Agreement mandates, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), in 2020 China had strong CO2 emissions growth because it doubled down on “the old playbook of stimulating the dirtiest and most energy-intensive sectors (construction, heavy manufacturing) to compensate for weakness elsewhere.”
In addition, Rubio stresses the dangerous path of relying on China: “We got a bit of a taste of it when China threatened to cut off the export of masks and other protective equipment during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Under the Obama administration, Washington caved into Beijing’s promises and granted it competitive economic and military advantages to the point of abandoning some of its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, such as allowing China to disregard sovereignty in the Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal in 2012.
As the Biden-Harris administration decides to join Beijing’s narrative around renewable energy consumption that benefits an industry tainted by crimes against humanity and at the expense of American job creation, Rubio opposes falling into the CCP’s game.
Camilo Bello is a consultant focused on Asia Pacific studies and has experience in strategic management. He has studied law in Colombia and is currently pursuing studies in language and history at National Taiwan Normal University. He has collaborated with Students for Freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan // Camilo es consultor enfocado en estudios de Asia Pacífico y experiencia en gestión estratégica. Cuenta con estudios en Derecho en Colombia y actualmente se encuentra realizando estudios en lenguaje e historia en National Taiwan Normal University. Colaborador de Estudiantes por la Libertad en Hong Kong y Taiwán