Senate Democrats want $350 billion to prepare for war with China

Democrats in the Senate announced September 17 a massive spending bill aimed at stepping up U.S. hostility towards China to the tune of $350 billion. Introduced by leading imperialist war hawks Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez, the legislation is intended to shore up U.S. dominance in strategic sectors of the world economy through huge government subsidies, as well as bolstering ongoing efforts to politically destabilize China. The centerpiece of the Democrats’ proposal is a $300 billion fund to subsidize science and technology development. This in all likelihood will mean a massive payday for some of the biggest tech firms in the country. An additional $16 billion is earmarked just for the semiconductor industry, a field where Chinese firms play a particularly prominent role. Strengthening these industries is one of the core goals of the Pentagon’s “Great Power Competition” doctrine, which identifies all-out confrontation with China (and Russia) as the overarching goal guiding U.S. military and foreign policy in the 21st century. U.S. aggression against China is constrained by the fact that U.S. corporations’ supply chains tend to be heavily dependent on China’s manufacturing sector. These subsidies aim to break down this key roadblock on the path to war. While semiconductors and other high-tech goods are of course valuable to the civilian economy, they are also crucial to the U.S. military’s efforts to maintain a technological edge over the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/senate-democrats-want-350-billion-to-prepare-for-war-with-china/