Two prominent Trump administration national security officials will serve as witnesses during the House select committee on China's first public hearing next week.
Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger will deliver analysis and insights about specific threats China poses to the United States during the panel's first prime-time hearing on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m., CNN reported.
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Other witnesses for the panel will include Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, human rights activist Wei Jingsheng, and Tong Yi, per CNN. The hearing will be the first prime-time one by a Republican-led panel since the GOP House takeover last month.
Pottinger and McMaster received bipartisan acclaim and helped craft former President Donald Trump's policy toward Beijing during his presidency.
Pottinger testified before the Jan. 6 committee last year to underscore the national security ramifications of the riot.
"I think it emboldened our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn’t work, that the United States is in decline,” Pottinger warned at the hearing.
One topic that could come up for Pottinger and McMaster is the suspected Chinese spy balloon that drifted across U.S. airspace earlier this month. Some military officials have claimed that there were balloon incursions under the Trump administration — claims that many former Trump administration officials have denied having knowledge of.
Given the diversity of backgrounds of the witnesses, the hearing will likely center on human rights abuses in China, national security threats from China, and trade relations with China.
Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) has also stressed that the committee will focus on policy toward Taiwan, the island off China's coast that Beijing claims sovereignty over and a flashpoint in U.S. relations with China. Gallagher has mused about running war games to size up how the U.S. military or Navy would fare against China's.
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Ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) has upheld the panel's work as a golden opportunity for bipartisanship in Congress. There is broad agreement between the two parties on China.
The Washington Examiner contacted a committee spokesperson for comment.