H.R. 4458 — COUNTER Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings, citing the 2024 China Military Power Report, on the People's Republic of China's (PRC) expansion of overseas military logistics and basing infrastructure to project People's Liberation Army (PLA) power. The findings are that (1) the PRC seeks to expand such infrastructure for greater power projection; (2) a global PLA logistics network could enhance PRC capabilities to surveil or disrupt U.S. military operations; (3) the PRC opened its first overseas PLA base near Doraleh, Djibouti, in August 2017; (4) the PRC attempted a 2019 acquisition of port infrastructure at Subic Bay, Philippines, which was blocked by the U.S., Philippines, Japan, and private investors; (5) PRC and Cambodian officials inaugurated the Ream Naval Base Joint Support and Training Center in April 2025, with port expansions apparently reserved for PRC ships stationed there since December 2023; and (6) beyond Djibouti and Ream, the PRC likely seeks additional military facilities in many countries to support naval, air, and ground force projection.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that future U.S. efforts to counter the People's Republic of China's (PRC) global military basing intentions must (1) proceed with urgency to address strategic implications; (2) reflect interagency coordination for a whole-of-government approach; (3) maintain a proactive rather than reactive posture; (4) identify a comprehensive menu of influential actions to shape partner decision-making on granting PRC military access; (5) prioritize PRC basing within overall U.S.-PRC strategic competition; (6) consider PRC use of commercial and scientific cooperation to enable access for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and other PRC security forces; (7) factor in contributions from allies and partners with historic ties and shared intelligence; (8) establish and resource enduring organizational structures and security, foreign assistance, and cooperation efforts; and (9) protect U.S. and allied force posture, freedom of movement, and other interests from PRC base expansion.

This section defines four terms for purposes of the Act: (1) appropriate congressional committees, meaning specified Senate and House committees on foreign relations or affairs, armed services, intelligence, and appropriations; (2) PLA, meaning the People's Liberation Army of the PRC; (3) PRC, meaning the People's Republic of China; and (4) PRC global basing, meaning the establishment outside the PRC's geographic boundaries of physical locations maintained by the PRC for the People's Liberation Army, PRC intelligence or security forces, or supporting infrastructure for potential power projection.

This section directs the Director of National Intelligence to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, within 180 days of enactment, a classified (if needed) intelligence assessment analyzing risks to U.S. and allied power projection, freedom of movement, and other interests from PRC global basing at specified locations. It further requires the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and other senior officials, to submit within 180 days a strategy to those committees that (1) identifies at least five highest-risk locations where the PRC maintains or seeks a physical presence potentially convertible to bases; (2) lists involved executive branch entities, agency resource needs, and constraints; (3) details mitigation efforts and prevention of new bases; and (4) specifies most effective U.S. or allied actions per location to terminate host government plans. The section also requires establishment within 90 days after the strategy of an interagency task force to implement the strategy at priority locations and identify measures against new bases elsewhere, as well as quadrennial reviews and reports on the executive branch's approach—beginning four years after strategy submission and including updated strategy elements.