Senate Panel Preparing Major China Competition Bill: Source

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a meeting on April 14 to consider bipartisan legislation to boost the country's ability to push back against China's expanding global influence, a Senate aide said Thursday.

The draft measure, seen by Reuters on Thursday and titled the "Strategic Competition Act of 2021," among other things says Washington must encourage allies to do more to check Beijing's "aggressive and assertive behavior" and says every federal department and agency should designate a senior official to coordinate policies with respect to strategic competition with China.

It is 283 pages long.