Senator Romney Wants US to Compete Better with China – Deseret News

Senator Mitt Romney wants American foreign development investment to better compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The bill introduced by Romney would add the Secretary of Defense to the board of directors that oversees the agency making those investments.
Romney said these investments must take into account US national security interests.

With just weeks left in his single Senate term, Sen. Mitt Romney is hoping to help the U.S. better compete with China when it comes to investing in overseas development projects.

He and fellow Arkansas Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan introduced legislation Thursday to strengthen the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation in an attempt to compete with China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.

China was financing of infrastructure projects in developing countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, including railway lines, highways, ports, power plants and communication lines.

Romney and Sullivan want the U.S. to compete better in this area and say the Development Finance Corporation, which funds projects in other countries in conjunction with private interests, should prioritize national security along with its other interests.

The bill would add the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the DFC’s governing board and require the DFC to “give priority to projects that will help the United States compete with China and other covered countries.”

The bill would also require the head of the DFC to report to Congress on how it is achieving foreign policy goals.

“The Development Finance Corporation was created to meet the needs of global development and the Chinese Communist Party’s Belt and Road project, but it is currently not living up to its potential,” Romney said in a press release.

Romney said the DFC should work in America’s interests and provide other countries with an alternative to accepting investment from China.

“Our legislation would do this by requiring the DFC to prioritize projects that will help the United States better compete with China,” Romney continued.

Sullivan said a review of DFC’s projects would show that the organization lacks strategic focus. He believes Congress needs to intervene to make the DFC better focused on America’s national security interests.

“Sep. Romney and I are proposing legislation to do just that,” Sullivan said. “I look forward to pursuing this initiative in the new Congress as part of a larger bipartisan effort to address the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”