Duckworth, Blackburn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Counter People’s Republic of China’s ‘Gray-Zone’ Aggression Against Indo-Pacific Partners

Duckworth, Blackburn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Counter People's Republic of China's 'Gray-Zone' Aggression Against Indo-Pacific Partners

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)-a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)-and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) today introduced bipartisan legislation to improve our nation's capabilities to counter the People's Republic of China's (PRC) intimidation and coercion tactics in the Indo-Pacific, which actively threaten the safety of our partners in the region as well as our national security. Known as 'gray-zone tactics,' these actions are aimed at disrupting regional stability while stopping just short of armed conflict-a dangerous strategy that sets the stage for even harsher intervention by the PRC in the future. The Senators' bipartisan Countering Gray Zone Aggression by the People's Republic of China Act would direct the State Department to enhance cooperation with our Indo-Pacific partners and better address the growing threat of PRC aggression in the region.

"Increasing PRC aggression in the Indo-Pacific doesn't just impact our partners in the region-it threatens America's economic and national security," said Duckworth. "We are Pacific nation, and we depend on a free and open Indo-Pacific. As the PRC works to undermine regional stability through its gray-zone tactics, our bipartisan bill would help ensure the U.S. better coordinates with our partners and deters these efforts that pose a real threat to our security."

"Communist China is constantly devising ways to evade detection and act maliciously towards our allies through cyberattacks, economic coercion, information warfare, and other 'gray-zone' tactics that undermine the U.S. and our allies without using open military conflict," said Blackburn. "This legislation would strengthen our ability to counter the CCP's malign geopolitical interests and its increasingly aggressive tactics in the Indo-Pacific."

The bipartisan Countering Gray Zone Aggression by the People's Republic of China Act would increase U.S. monitoring and deterrence capabilities of gray-zone tactics by the PRC, enhance public oversight of these tactics and cooperation with Indo-Pacific allies by:

• Directing the Secretary of State to submit a strategy for better monitoring PRC behavior in the Indo-Pacific and identify relevant branches, programs and actors to enhance Indo-Pacific oversight.

• Requiring the task force to track, formulate and strengthen tools for the purpose of countering and mitigating gray-zone operations and evaluate progress and performance indicators to report back to Congress.

• Instructing the Department of State to identify additional key areas for collaboration with our Indo-Pacific allies and partners and with private stakeholders, with the intent of strengthening our collective capabilities to deter this aggression by the PRC, to the benefit of U.S. national interest, the global economy and those in the region.

The full text of the legislation is available on Senator Duckworth's website.

Duckworth continues to be a proven leader when it comes to countering PRC aggression through strengthened coordination with our Indo-Pacific partners. Earlier this month, amid increasing PRC aggression in the South China Sea, Duckworth became first U.S. Senator to visit Taiwan since the disastrous Trump-Xi summit where Donald Trump kowtowed to PRC President Xi Jinping and waffled on delivering a critical bipartisan arms package to Taiwan. Upon her arrival, Duckworth penned an op-ed underscoring that the United States' commitment to Taiwan is steadfast-regardless of who is in the White House. She also made an official visit to Japan during the same trip to strengthen economic ties between our nations, specifically in Illinois, so our nations' trade ties can remain resilient despite PRC gray-zone activities.

The Senator is also leading numerous additional pieces of legislation that would help the U.S. and our Indo-Pacific partners be better prepared to deter PRC coercion tactics, including through her bipartisan Strategy for Crisis Management Act and South China Sea Strategy Act that both recently passed committee and now await a full Senate vote. Her Strategy for Crisis Management Act was one of several provisions she secured in this year's committee-passed NDAA to enhance our readiness and coordination with partners in the Indo-Pacific region. This provision would help deescalate consequential crises short of war in the South China Sea. Among Duckworth's other wins are provisions that would drive cooperation with Indo-Pacific allies and partners on asymmetric operations and improve medical preparedness and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

In addition, Duckworth's Indo-Pacific Medical Readiness program-a program she championed in the FY2025 NDAA and continues to implement through provisions in this year's NDAA-will help ensure our nation's servicemembers as well as their families have access to quality patient care throughout the Indo-Pacific region, where they often must travel long distances to receive care.

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