A North Carolina U.S. Senator has introduced a bill with bipartisan backing that would require the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to monitor efforts by the People’s Republic of China to build, buy, or own strategic ports around the world.
Senator Ted Budd said the Strategic Ports Reporting Act requires the development of a map of foreign and domestic ports of importance to the United States for military, diplomatic, economic, or resource exploration purposes and to identify efforts by China to build, buy, or otherwise control those ports.
The bill would also require the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense to conduct a study on China’s activities as they relate to strategic ports, including an assessment of vulnerabilities and a strategy to secure them.
