Among the bill's priorities include a $7.1 billion carveout for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a program that will bolster U.S. defense operations in the Pacific region and in invest in alliances aimed to counter China. In addition to this measure, the NDAA's actions aimed to rein in the influence of China include a statement of congressional support for the defense of Taiwan and a ban on the Department of Defense purchasing products made in Uyghur forced labor camps in the country's Xinjiang region.
China did not take kindly to the measures, with Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian decrying the new China-focused actions as "political manipulation" that reflected an "obsolete Cold War" mentality. "We firmly oppose the US slipping in negative content concerning China or making an issue out of China for political manipulation," Zhao said during a Tuesday press conference. "We urge it to discard the obsolete Cold War zero-sum mentality and ideological bias and look at China's development and China-US relations in an objective and rational light."
