Deputy Secretary of State Urges Lawmakers to Step Up Competition With China in Shipbuilding, Rare Earth Mining

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the CCP’s expansive global influence.

Kurt Campbell, then U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Dec. 13, 2012. Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell urged lawmakers during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to expand their efforts to counter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on multiple fronts.

At the July 30 hearing, Campbell shared concerns across the spectrum of U.S.–China competition, from control over the rare earth minerals trade to China’s expanding defense industrial output. He called the disparity between U.S. and Chinese shipbuilding “deeply concerning.”