Indo-Pacific — 2026-06-23

GAO Finds US Spent $1.2 Billion on Counter-China Influence Projects Without Assessing Overall Results

BLUFFive years and $1.2 billion into its primary counter-China influence initiative, Washington unlikely will restore results tracking by year-end 2026, leaving Congress blind to which investments produced effects.

The GAO's June 17 report found that State and USAID funded approximately 470 projects valued at $1.2 billion from fiscal years 2020-2023 under the Countering PRC Influence Fund 12. The working group overseeing the program never assessed portfolio results and, auditors found, lacked reliable data on project status: time frames were missing for 129 projects, lines-of-effort designations for 38, and specific project data from nearly a third of approved proposals 13. State and USAID began developing a results framework in 2023 but remained in early stages when a January 2025 executive order paused foreign assistance obligations; as of March 2026, State has not confirmed it will resume that effort 1. GAO issued five recommendations on stakeholder input, data collection, and results assessment; State concurred with all five 1.

Analysis
State is unlikely to confirm reinstatement of the results framework by year-end 2026. The January 2025 executive order froze foreign assistance obligations as USAID was simultaneously dismantled, eliminating both the institutional capacity and the interagency process that co-owned results tracking. State's concurrence with all five GAO recommendations signals intent, not authority; without reconstituted structures, concurrence cannot produce implementation. The durable consequence is strategic opacity: five years and $1.2 billion into a counter-China initiative, neither Congress nor the interagency can identify which project types produced effects, leaving appropriators with no outcome data if programming is reconstituted. Analytic confidence is low; State's internal deliberations are not observable, and no independent reporting supplements the GAO audit record. Dedicated FY2026 resourcing for the Office of China Coordination could compress the timeline, but the institutional record offers a low baseline.

3 sources

Countering China: Agencies Provided Over $1 Billion but Have Not Assessed Overall Results of Projects - U.S. Government Accountability Office
GAO Report on Countering China - USNI News
GAO faults State, USAID for poor oversight of $1.2 billion China counter-influence effort - Washington Times