The New Washington Consensus

Washington DC is a sharply divided city these days. A recent Pew Research Center poll concluded that Americans have increasingly embraced “conflicting partisan priorities for US foreign policy.”¹ On most major national security concerns—whether Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Afghanistan—there is little or no bipartisan agreement. On China, however, there is an emerging consensus. Why has Washington come to a new consensus on China, and where will this consensus lead? To answer these questions, we examine how US policymakers’ views are changing on three issues concerning China: security activities, economic impact, and human rights record. In each area, we find that experts on both sides of the aisle (and across other divides) are increasingly in agreement that the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) behavior is deeply problematic and requires a more forceful response.

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