US Foreign Affairs Budget to Increase by 20% for 'China Response'

President Joe Biden of the United States [Image source= EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The U.S. Congress is expected to increase the budget for the diplomatic sector by about 20% to support the Biden administration in its power struggle with China.

According to major foreign media on the 16th (local time), the Democratic Party has proposed a bill to increase the current diplomatic budget of $56.6 billion to $68.7 billion.

Democratic Senators Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen, Democratic Representative Ami Bera, and Republican Representative David Cicilline stated that increasing the budget by 20% would enhance the government's capacity to compete with China, prevent another pandemic outbreak, and address climate change.

Senator Murphy said, "Issues threatening the U.S. and its allies cannot be addressed by defense investments alone."

Representative Cicilline said, "China has doubled its diplomatic budget over the past decade."

Since President Joe Biden took office, competition with China has become a key issue in the diplomatic field. On the 12th, President Biden held the first online 'Quad' summit. The Quad is a four-country consultative group formed by the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India during former President Donald Trump's administration to counter China.

Former President Trump focused on reducing the diplomatic budget and increasing the defense budget instead. However, Congress opposed this policy. Both the Democratic and Republican parties expressed the importance of maintaining America's 'soft power.' Due to the differences between President Trump and Congress, the U.S. diplomatic budget has remained at a similar level without significant changes over the past few years.

Meanwhile, on the same day, 50 Democratic House members sent a letter to President Biden expressing the view that the defense budget should be reduced. The U.S. defense budget is $740 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.