Democratic-led US Congress to turn up heat on Beijing over AI, Taiwan: analyst

A Democratic-controlled US Congress will ramp up pressure on Beijing over Taiwan, artificial intelligence (AI) and export controls, even if the US midterm results leave Washington’s overall strategy towards Beijing unchanged, according to a Chinese analyst.

Zhao Minghao, a professor at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, called the results so far a “blue tsunami” and a “big win” for the Democrats that would turn US President Donald Trump into a “lame duck”.

The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon reported that Democrats had won control of the Senate, flipping several Republican-held seats amid voter frustration over high prices and the Iran war. They also took control of the US House of Representatives.

Zhao said a Democratic-controlled Congress was likely to launch sweeping investigations into Trump, his family and senior officials once it convened in January, pushing back on the president’s agenda across legislation and the budget.

Zhao suggested that the midterm elections would not change the overall direction of Washington’s China policy, since stepping up strategic competition with Beijing is a bipartisan consensus. But the results could affect the tools Washington uses.

“For one, a Democratic-led Congress will certainly further intensify pressure on China on Taiwan, AI and export controls,” he said.

“Democrats will also scrutinise the Trump administration’s China policy more closely, including how it conducts diplomacy with Beijing. All of this will affect how the executive branch handles relations with China in the next phase.”

As artificial intelligence – from data centres to regulation – took centre stage in the midterm elections, Zhao said the debate was likely to become more closely tied to US-China competition once the Democrats take control of Congress.

“The Democrats may instrumentalise China policy as a tool to pressure Trump. This is a very big challenge for Beijing,” he said.

“Going forward, the decline of Trump’s personal political authority will also pose a major challenge to the new positioning of a strategically stable relationship that China and the US have formed … and the progress made on it.”