WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) introduced the Combating PRC Overseas and Unlawful Networked Threats through Enhanced Resilience (COUNTER) Act to combat the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attempts to strengthen its global reach by expanding its overseas basing efforts. The COUNTER Act is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

“China is using the placement of new military bases in strategically important countries around the world to expand their military and economic power,” said Senator Coons. “A successful long-term plan to deal with our global pacing threat in Beijing must include a comprehensive approach to stop China from gaining more military footholds by working with our partners and allies across the globe. The bipartisan COUNTER Act will push our government to come up with the tailored solutions we need to face this growing challenge.”

“Communist China’s growing military footprint across the world poses a serious threat. We cannot afford to be reactionary to Xi Jinping’s military expansion and his desire to project power globally. The COUNTER Act will ensure that we have the urgency, strategy, and coordination necessary to potentially mitigate the next overseas PLA military base from developing,” said Senator Ricketts.

“China is rapidly expanding its global footprint, and we need to do more to address the threat this poses to our national security and the security of our allies,” said Senator Kaine. “This bipartisan legislation would help ensure that the U.S. government has a comprehensive strategy to counter China’s establishment of new military bases around the world.”

“The Chinese Communist Party is aggressively working to undermine the United States and spread its authoritarian influence to strategic countries by building military bases and undermining national security and global stability,” said Senator Cornyn. “The COUNTER Act would enhance our understanding of their devious plans and sharpen our efforts to thwart future CCP footholds, and I’m proud to stand with my colleagues to push back against their hostile actions.”

The PRC has significantly increased its efforts in recent years to establish an overseas network of military and transportation bases, which would allow the People’s Liberation Army to project and expand military power. The COUNTER Act would begin to mitigate the threat this poses to the United States and our allies by requiring a comprehensive intelligence assessment of the PRC’s global basing activities, as well as a strategy from the State Department and the Department of Defense to address them. The legislation would also create an interagency task force to implement the strategy and identify proactive measures to counteract both current and future Chinese attempts to add military bases in strategic countries.

Specifically, the COUNTER Act would: 

  • Require an assessment from the Director of National Intelligence analyzing the risk of PRC global basing to the U.S and allied power projection and freedom of movement
  • Require a strategy from the State Department and the Department of Defense identifying current or future PRC basing locations
    • a comprehensive list of U.S. government activity aimed at addressing PRC global basing in each location
    • an identification of resource or personnel constraints limiting the U.S. response
    • an identification of the most effective practices to persuade foreign governments to terminate plans for hosting a PRC base in their territory
  • Establish an interagency task force to counter the PRC’s global basing expansion and prevent new locations
  • Require a report every four years on updates to PRC basing intentions and subsequent updates to U.S. strategy

Senator Coons is the Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Ricketts is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A one-pager on the bill is available here. 

The text of the bill is available here.